Five die in accident involving a clandestine transport vehicle

Five people aboard a vehicle engaged in smuggling were killed Friday evening in the Cameroonian town of Banekane (West) following a collision with a transit bus, says security sources.

The accident apparently caused by speeding also left one person wounded. The accident occurred when the small car hit a hill at a brisk pace, leaving its drive lane to the opposite side.

According to the statistics from the Ministry of transportation, road accidents cause some 600 fatalities each year in the country, a figure that has however experienced a decrease of 16% from February 2011 and the entry into force of the 'Control-surveillance-suppression' operation, carried out by the secretariat of State for defence (SED) in charge of the gendarmerie.

The major causes of these disasters are attributed to human failures (70%) and those relating to vehicles (20%), to the poor state of roads (10%) as well as drug use among some drivers, particularly in regions north of Cameroon.