Horrible, Horrible!

23 perish at Mile 29 ‘death trap’ in Muyuka

Corpses of victims covered with banana leaves

A ghastly road accident has killed 23 persons and left several others seriously wounded at the notorious mile 29 hill near Muyuka in the South West region. This was in the early morning hours of Saturday 17 August 2017.

                According to reports from the scene of the accident, a truck carrying merchandize lost its breaks as it descended the very steep hill from Ekona; it lost control, left its own side of the road and bashed into two vehicles that were going in the reverse direction. The two cars – a 20-seater transport bus carrying 18 passengers and a private car.

                Official sources say at least 20 persons died on the spot, while two others were seriously hurt. The 18 persons in the bus were returning to Buea from a funeral in Muyuka.

Informed of the ghastly accident, the SG of the South West Governor’s office immediately got to the scene to see for himself the situation on ground.

                At the scene of the accident, gendarmes and police were helped by civilians to pull out the corpses from the wreckages of the cars.

The bodies, some completely crushed, were taken to nearby hospital mortuaries.

It should be noted that the Mile 29 hill has remained somewhat of a death trap since for several decades now, with many deadly accidents occurring there at almost regular intervals.

                This is because heavily laden trucks find it difficult to grapple with the very long and steep hill that stretches down to Mile 29 from Ekona. On many occasions the heavy vehicles have lost their breaks and run into the ravens that border the road. On other occasions they crush any vehicles on their path before they get to a halt.

                Not even the speed brakes built on this portion of the road has helped the very bad situation.