At least 55 killed and nearly 600 injured after packed train derails and smashes into ditch in Cameroon
Some 1,300 passengers were crammed into the service from Yarounde to Doula - more than double its capacity
AT LEAST 55 people were killed and nearly 600 injured after a packed passenger train derailed and overturned in Cameroon.
The overcrowded inter-city train was travelling from Yarounde to Doula when it crashed this afternoon.
Several carriages swung off the track as the train derailed leaving debris strewn across tracks running alongside it.
Dramatic pictures show the carnage and devastation as people battled to find survivors.
One woman was seen climbing out of a small gap in the window.
Some 1,300 passengers were crammed into the service - more than double its 600 capacity.
A Reuters journalist travelling in a wagon near the front of the train witnessed the tragic accident.
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He said: "There was a loud noise. I looked back and the wagons behind us left the rails and started rolling over and over.
"There was a lot of smoke."
Cameroon's transport minister Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o said 55 people had been confirmed dead and a further 575 were injured in the incident.
"The cause of the accident is not yet clear," he said, adding that several of the injured were fighting for life.
The train left Yaounde at around 11am local time and derailed around midday some 200 kilometres from the capital, the transport minister said.
The train route was particularly busy after a bridge on the road linking Yaounde and Douala collapsed in heavy rain overnight Thursday, paralysing traffic and sending extra waves of travellers onto trains.
Landslides caused by heavy rain blocked roads across Cameroon.
"Intervention and security teams have been mobilised," rail firm Camrail announced.
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