53 dead in West Cameroon bus crash

Fifty-three people are dead and 29 seriously injured following a collision Wednesday between a bus and a truck containing flammable liquid in West Cameroon.

The accident occurred at around 3 a.m. at the Cliff of Dschang, near the city of the same name.

“This unfortunate accident, which occurred during the night, highlights the problem of night trips favored by certain interurban passenger transport companies and the need for their supervision,” said Cameroon’s transport minister, Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe.

The bus belonged to Menoua voyages, he said, an interurban travel agency operating in the region. The injured, which include children, according to Cameroon state media CRTV, were taken to Dschang District Hospital.

The minister said an investigation will “establish the responsibilities” and “the appropriate measures” will be taken. He expressed his condolences to the families of the dead and wished those injured a “speedy recovery.”

Images and video from CRTV show a burned out truck at a corner next to the overturned and still flaming bus.

Last month 37 people, including four children, died when a bus hit a lorry on the Yaounde-Bafoussam road in central Cameroon last month, according to Associated Press reporting.