It was a fateful day for many attending a funeral on Sunday in Cameroon’s capital of Yaounde after a landslide occurred, killing 15 people and injuring several more.
People had gathered for a funeral of people who died within the past month when the landslide occurred.
According to Cameroonian authorities, soil and stones collapsed on Sunday evening on several hundred community members from Cameroon’s west region resulting in a devastating landslide, killing more than a dozen people.
A landslide in Cameroon's capital Yaounde on Sunday (November 27) killed at least 15 people who were attending a funeral, celebrating the lives of a group of deceased loved ones. pic.twitter.com/N2CZwfeXve
— Reuters Africa (@ReutersAfrica) November 29, 2022
Authorities said on Wednesday that a rescue operation is currently underway at Antenne Damas in Yaounde to retrieve bodies trapped underneath the ground.
The governor of the centre region, Naseri Paul Bea, said that rescue operations are underway, as dozens of others remain missing as rescue crews dug through the rubble with torches.
Citing reports by Voice of America, one eyewitness said she saw the ground collapse on scores of people, including her two sons.
One eyewitness said she is still searching for her 24-year-old son, who was buried by the landslide alongside his motorcycle.
She told journalists that she left Yaounde central hospital after hospital staff reassured her that her 21-year-old son, who was also a victim of the landslide, is responding to treatment.
According to the World Health Organization, between 1998 and 2017, landslides affected an estimated 4.8 million people and caused more than 18 000 deaths.
The global health authority says that climate change and rising temperatures are expected to trigger more landslides, especially in mountainous areas with snow and ice.
IOL