Media reports on Sunday in Yaounde has said that the search for victims continues two days after the derailment of a passenger train that claimed 75 lives in Eseka, which lies about 120 kilometres from Yaounde.
Reports say rescuers were still searching for more bodies in a ravine where four of the wagons plunged.
It said the rescuers were unable to lift some of the wagons, which were on top of each other from the ravine, so they were struggling to extract bodies intact.
According to the report, President Paul Biya, has put the death toll at more than 70, adding that 600 had been injured in the accident.
The president has pledged the government’s full assistance to the survivors, adding that investigations would be made to determine the cause of the derailment.
Biya decreed that Monday would be a national day of mourning with flags flown at half-mast.
Reports said the train, which had about 20 carriages, started developing problems near Eseka, with wagons gradually detaching themselves from the convoy.
It said some wagons fell into a ravine, ejecting passengers as bodies were strewn on the site, some of them crushed by wreckage.
The report said the train was carrying more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of extra passengers who had sought rail transport after the collapse of a bridge blocked an alternative road route.
It added that extra carriages were added for them.
Meanwhile, the rail company Camrail has rejected complaints from victims’ families that they had been abandoned.
The company representative disclosed that crisis cells have been set up in Yaounde and Douala, the two cities between which the train was travelling.
It said the cells supervised the reception of victims at hospitals and were providing families with psychological support. (dpa/NAN)
