The incidents on November 3, 2016, claimed five lives in a truck crash near Boumnyebel and three others in a ferry mishap in Ntui.

The trail of fatal accidents in the Centre Region continued over the weekend with eight people losing their lives on Thursday, November 3, 2016. Earlier on November 2, 2016, nine women were crushed to death by a pick-up van near Nkoak-Idjen village in Lékié Division. The more fatal of last weekend’s incidents was near Boumnyebel in the Nyong and Kéllé Division where five people were killed after a truck crashed into a fruit shed by the side of the Yaounde-Douala Highway.

Senior Warrant Officer (“Adjudant Chef”) Takem Frankline, Head of the Boumnyebel Gendarmerie Motorbike Highway Patrol Unit, told Cameroon Tribune on phone that the accident happened at about midday in Mamb, seven kilometres from Boumnyebel. An empty truck belonging to the Source du pays (Supermont) mineral water bottling company travelling from Yaounde to Douala, crashed into the roadside shed. Five people died, while five others were wounded. The dead are Essomba Germaine, serving with Routd’afrique Construction Company, Yagnigni Aboubakar, an employee of Razel Construction Company, Mafouma Boumba, a one and half-year baby, Ngo’o Libi epouse Koy Emmanuel and Baya Charlotte, who later died the same day in the Saint André Hospital, Pouma.

Takem said the two dead women were selling fruits, while the road construction workers were part of a team carrying out repairs on the busy highway. He said the accident might have been caused by a dysfunction of the mechanical driving and breaks systems, making the driver to lose control of the truck. In the Mbam and Kim Division, a Toyota A100 private car with registration number OU 723 AR sank into River Sanaga at about 6.45 pm after first trying to cross the ferry on its way from Ntui to Yaounde. The Mbam and Kim Divisional Delegate for Transport, Moise Gervais Ndi, told Cameroon Tribune on phone that the vehicle first tried to cross the river, but the driver was informed that the ferry was already full.

Two of the five people on board then alighted to help him reverse on the wooden platform, but he hit someone behind. An argument then ensued between the victim and the driver. When the situation calmed down, the driver again tried to reverse the car to dry ground, but it suddenly fell into the river. The car was only pulled out the following day, Friday, November 4, 2016, at about 10.20 am. The corpses of two women who refused to alight were recovered from the vehicle, but that of the driver was still to be found, Moise Gervais Ndi said.