Eseka train disaster:

At least 70 killed, over 600 injured

The number of people killed in a train crash in Eseka, Nyong and Kelle Division of Cameroon, on Friday, has risen to over 70, with more than 600 others injured, according to official sources. President Paul Biya who has been abroad since 16 September, instructed the government to provide full assistance to the victims. He also decreed today Monday a day of national mourning.

By Ayukogem Steven Ojong with additional reports

Passengers escaping to safety at the site of the train derailment in Eseka

The train derailed just after midday, almost midway between Yaounde and Douala, Cameroon's two main cities, officials said Saturday, as distraught relatives desperately sought news of missing loved ones.

                The train was on a regular journey to Douala from Yaounde, when it came off its track.

                There was overcrowding in the train because a bridge collapsed on the Yaounde-Douala highway the day before, making travel by road almost impossible. The culverts under the bridge yielded to fast running flood waters resulting from a heavy rain.

                Though the exact cause of the train derailment is not immediately known, witnesses say more couches were added to accommodate the extra passengers. Associated Press reported that there were 1300 persons on the train instead of the normal 600.

                From abroad where he has been since 16 September, President Biya instructed the government to provide full assistance to the victims. He also ordered in investigation into the cause of the derailment.

                With the dead and injured scattered between different hospitals on Friday, authorities were working flat out to cope with the scale of the disaster. Dead bodies were transferred to morgues in the capital Yaounde, while injured survivors were distributed to public hospitals here. Some opted to deal with their situation by themselves.

                "We have received between 60 and 70 bodies at the station this morning," an official at the Yaounde railway station who asked not to be identified told The Median.

"Some of the wounded are arriving unconscious. We think the death toll will rise," said the railway official.

Four-Month-Old Baby

                At the Central Hospital in Yaounde, where the morgue was holding 29 bodies including those of babies, distraught relatives thronged the corridors.

                The first person allowed into the morgue, a woman, emerged in tears. "She recognised the body of her sister," explained one of the people with her.

                On Friday evening, government television reported that many of the injured were in a critical condition.

                Deputy Health minister AlimGargaHayatou told reporters after visiting some of the injured that more information would be released "once we are in control of the whole situation". But in the meantime hospital staff are "working hard and efficiently", he added.

                At the Yaounde Central Hospital, the 29 bodies in the morgue included those of white people, many women and babies, a policeman on duty there said.

                He had no information on nationalities although the French foreign ministry said one French national was among the dead.

One woman waiting her turn to enter the morgue said: "We have had no news from our sister since yesterday. We don't know whether she is alive.

                "Her phone was ringing yesterday but it wasn't since this morning. Her husband is looking for her in Douala," said the woman who gave her name as Fadimatou.

                Dan Njoya said he had come to the morgue "to see if the body of my four-month-old baby is here".

                At the Military Hospital morgue, in the Ekounou quarters here, there was a list of 24 names: 11 women and six men including one Ugandan, one child and six babies.

'Terrible accident'

                Many of those injured in the accident were taken to hospitals in Douala and Pouma, medical sources said.

                Rail operator Camrail, a subsidiary of French multinational, GroupeBollore, said the cause of the crash was under investigation.

                "Technical investigations are ongoing to determine the causes of this terrible accident and the findings as they become available will be made known," it said in a statement.

                The company was doing everything necessary to "deal with the injured and ensure support for the families affected by this tragedy", it added.

                Police had cordoned off the railway stations in both cities.

                Meanwhile, the road bridge that collapsed on Thursday night as a result of heavy rain reopened to traffic in both directions on Saturday after emergency work.

The road is one of the busiest in the country and one of the main commercial routes in central Africa, ferrying merchandize to landlocked Chad and the Central African Republic.

Sabotage suspected?

                As investigations are underway to ascertain the cause of the derailment, some observers have insinuated that sabotage can not be completely ruled out. For instance the Minister of Transport, Edgard Alain MebeNgo’o said he could not understand how report about the train derailment at Eseka was posted on social media even before the accident actually occurred.

                Also, the rail company Camrail had posted on its website that there was no accident across its grid. But the tragic train derailment happened minutes later.