International News

YAOUNDI, Oct 22 (APP/AFP): Fifty-five people were killed and almost 600 injured when a packed Cameroon passenger train derailed on Friday while travelling from the capital Yaounde to the economic hub Douala, the transport minister said. The train, crammed with people due to road traffic disruption between the two cities, came off the tracks just before reaching the central city of Eseka, transport minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o said. Several carriages swung off the track as the train derailed leaving debris strewn across adjacent rail tracks. The minister, via state broadcaster CRTV, said 55 people had been confirmed dead and a further 575 were injured in the incident, updating an earlier toll. “The cause of the accident is not yet clear,” he said, adding that several of the injured were in very serious condition.