Two landslides claimed the lives of at least four people and trapped others in their cars in western Cameroon on Tuesday, according to a statement from the local governor.
“The provisional death toll stands at four” and “searches are continuing on the ground to find the bodies of other victims of this natural disaster”, said West regional governor Augustine Awa Fonka.
Awa Fonka reported that the first landslide occurred around mid-morning on the Dschang cliff road, a section known for accidents that run through a mountainous region of the central African country.
The governor said this incident briefly disrupted traffic, and emergency responders used heavy construction equipment to clear the road.
A second “large-scale” landslide that occurred during the work buried “three heavy machines involved in the clearing”, three coaches with around 20 seats each, five six-seater vehicles, several motorbikes, passers-by, and local residents, Awa Fonka said in a statement.
Authorities halted traffic and advised local residents to avoid the area, which is highly vulnerable to landslides.
Cameroon’s highways are known to be dangerous with nearly 3,000 fatalities reported annually due to accidents, equating to over ten deaths for every 100,000 residents, based on the most recent data from the World Health Organisation, released in 2023.
In early September, a tractor-trailer filled with passengers fell off a cliff road into a ravine close to the town of Dschang, resulting in the deaths of eight people and injuring 62 others, including eight children.