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15 Dead in Cameroon Landslides


Rescuers prepare to carry a body after a landslide in Yaounde, November 27, 2022
Rescuers prepare to carry a body after a landslide in Yaounde, November 27, 2022

Authorities in the West African nation Monday said a landslide that happened in the capital Yaoundé took the lives of at least 15 people who were hosting a memorial service at the top of a hill when the ground collapsed.

Authorities add, at least one of the tents and the people beneath it were swept away during the landslides.

Naseri Paul Bea, the governor of the Center region which includes the capital city said the initial death toll was 11 however, four more bodies were discovered.

“We are now at 15 dead,” said Bea.

Locals in Yaoundé’s working-class district of Damas, where the disaster took place say the memorial service was a tribute to five members of a local association that died earlier this year.

Eyewitnesses say large white marquees remained on the hill’s summit, beyond which the site where the ground opened, and add, the search for victims was suspended on Sunday evening.

Marie Claire Mendouga, one of the attendees of the memorial said the disaster happened soon after attendees started dancing.

“We had just started to dance when the ground collapsed,” said Mendouga.

“I dug with my hands to try to extract victims,” added Mendouga.

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