At least 73 people dead and 600 injured in train derailment in Cameroon

It was a packed passenger rain that derailed in Cameroon killing a least 73 persons and injured another 600. Passengers in the front of the train apparently saw the carriages behind swing off the tracks moments before the crash.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 22 October 2016.

As per rescue workers and hospital staff, at least 73 people died in the crash but, the official death toll has been pegged at 53 with many victims lying trapped in the wreckage. The cause of the accident is not known but several of the injured were in very serious condition.
The location of the accident is around 120km west of the capital Yaounde and the Camrail inter-city train was on its way to the port city of Douala. It seems the train was crammed with people due to road traffic disruption between Yaounde and Douala. In fact, additional carriages had been added to the train to accommodate people who were unable to made the journey by road.
The train is supposed to have a capacity of 600 but, it is believed that there were nearly 1,300 people at the time of the crash. It is not clear whether overcrowding played a role in the accident.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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