Death toll following landslide in Cameroon rises

Death toll following landslide in Cameroon rises

The death toll from Sunday’s landslide in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé has risen to 30, with 17 others injured, says the country’s interior minister, who was on site to assess the damage, local media reported.

Several homes in Mbankolo, an impoverished neighbourhood, were reduced to rubble following heavy rains. There are fears that several people are still trapped under the ruins.

“We just put a team that will work all day long to continue finding people,” Housing Minister Celestine Ketcha Courtès told the BBC.

Among those rescued, was a three-month-old baby. Authorities have asked inhabitants to vacate the neighbourhood, which is considered a risk zone, for fear of another landslide there.

“The incident occurred when rains overflowed from a local reservoir”, the media quotes locals as saying.

Some people who lost everything in the incident say they have nowhere else to go.

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