20 die in Cameroon ghastly road accident

YAOUNDE,Cameroon - Some 20 people died on the spot and over 30 others were taken to medical centers for urgent attention Monday after a 70-seater passenger bus crashed into a trailer poorly parked along the road at Tonga, a locality some 210 km north of the capital on the Yaounde-Bafoussam highway, state radio reported.

Confirming the report, security forces said the passenger bus which left Bamenda in the North-West region was travelling to the capital until it bashed into the trailer at about 1.30 am and burst into flames.

"Once the passenger bus hit the trailer and caught fire its doors could not open, so most of those who died on the spot were roasted into ashes," a police officer and eyewitnesses who travelling along the same road told Xinhua. "Those who managed to save their lives had to break open some of the windows of the bus to jump out."

The police officer said the trailer was poorly parked along the road because it ran into a technical problem and was waiting for the day to break before it could be repaired. Unfortunately, the passenger bus concerned may have been on high speed and before it could take notice of the trailer it was too late.

The Monday ghastly road accident came just two days after a network of members of parliament joined the Ministry of Transport in safety road driving campaign during this time of the end of the year when a lot travelling takes place in the country, often resulting into numerous deadly accidents.

According to the senior minister in charge of Transport, Bello Bouba Maigari, road accidents claim some 1,200 lives in the country every year and results in the loss of property estimated at 1 billion CFA francs, representing 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product.