Landslide in Cameroon | Four dead, several buried

(Yaoundé) A double landslide that occurred Tuesday above a road in western Cameroon left at least four dead and buried several dozen people, local authorities announced in a press release.

“The provisional toll in human lives shows four bodies extricated from the rubble” and “search continues on the ground with a view to finding the bodies of the other victims of this natural disaster”, according to the press release published by the governor of the region of the West, Augustine Awa Fonka.

The first landslide, which occurred mid-morning on the Dschang cliff, temporarily cut off traffic and emergency work was carried out by construction equipment to clear the way, Governor Awa Fonka told the press.

A second “large-scale” landslide that occurred during the work buried “three heavy equipment engaged in clearing”, three Coaster type vehicles – coaches with around twenty seats – and five Picnic type vehicles – cars “ capable of carrying six passengers” –, several motorcycles, passers-by and local residents, the governor then specified in a press release.

The authorities banned traffic and asked the local population to “move away from the disaster area which presents a very high risk” of landslides.

Cameroon’s roads are known to be dangerous, with nearly 3,000 deaths each year in traffic accidents, or more than 10 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO) published in 2023.

Crossing a mountainous area in the west of the country, the Dschang cliff road is particularly accident-prone. In early September, a large vehicle carrying passengers rolled over into a ravine near the town of Dschang, killing 8 people and injuring 62 people, including eight children.