YAOUNDE: A landslide caused by heavy rainfall has killed at least twenty-three people in Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde, rescue workers said on Monday, as they searched for more victims.
Landslides are frequent during the rainy season in Yaounde, where houses are sometimes built precariously on the hills in the city.
The latest incident occurred on Sunday evening in the district of Mbankolo, northwest of the capital Yaounde, which is home to nearly 3 million people, according to AFP.
Torrential rain caused a dam holding back an artificial lake sitting on higher ground to burst.
David Petatoa Poufong, the fire service’s second in command, told journalists at the site that yesterday, they pulled out fifteen people who had died, and this morning they have found 8. He said that they were still searching for bodies.
Distressed relatives watched as the lifeless bodies of some of the victims covered in sheets were driven away by rescue workers.
A security cordon was in place to keep media and onlookers back from the spot where the landslide happened.
But images broadcast on TV channels showed a whole section of a hill had collapsed and what remained of houses apparently constructed from dried earth bricks, wood, and metal sheeting.
The remains of hillside houses that were swept away by the landslide could be seen in the distance.
A local administrative official, Daouda Ousmanou, announced on public radio that there was a landslide after heavy rain. The flooding water swept away everything in its path.
The onslaught of mud destroyed about thirty houses.
Previous landslide incidents in Cameroon
In November 2022, at least fifteen people died when a landslide engulfed members of a funeral party in the working-class district of Damas in Yaounde.
Forty-three people were killed in the western city of Bafoussam in 2019 when a landslide triggered by torrential rains swept away a dozen flimsy houses built on the side of a hill.
