Yaounde/Douala Road Again: 4 Dead In Ghastly Accident This Afternoon

OMG! Was with the Road Safety Team of the National Gendarmerie, along the Yaounde - Douala Highway, for their bi-weekly road safety campaign, where they sensitize and clamp down on recalcitrant drivers. Upon our return, we were met with a hideous scene, an accident which happened at 2pm this afternoon at Nkeng-Likok in the Nyong and Kelle division precisely at a junction known as "Etats Unis". This is about 40km from Yaounde.

A Toyota Avensis car (number plate CE605FD), carrying 6 people, was completely wrecked. 4 out of the 6 occupants, died on the spot. It had a sideways collision with a 70-seater bus belonging to the 'Butrans' travel agency.

The cause, Over speeding , and wrong overtaking.
Chief Warrant Officer (Adjudant Chef) Balthazar Boyomo, who is in charge of the Boumnyebel Road Safety Campaign, as well as the driver of the Butrans Bus, Ndono Bengono Denis, explained to us that the Butrans bus was coming from Yaounde to Douala. From the opposite direction, a Mini bus belonging to the 'Marathon' travel agency, coming from Douala, was trying to overtake a long line of cars, and on high speed. The Toyota Avensis vehicle, was following him very closely.

The Minibus had completely left its lane and was already on the opposite lane, struggling to over-take a long line of vehicles. At that point, he came face to face with the Butrans 70-Seater bus . Immediately, he went back to his own lane.

Unfortunately, the Avensis car, which was driving almost bumper to bumper directly behind the mininus, could not do same, by falling back on his lane, because he was already face to face with the Butrans 70-seater.
He thus tried to swerve to the left, into the bush.

This proved fatal, as one of the Avensis car doors got hooked onto the front part of the Butrans bus. This immediately caused the small vehicle to somersault . Four of the occupants of the car, which was a "Clando", died instantly. Two were rushed to hospital.

Guys, the Avensis vehicle is completely wrecked, in fact the carcass is half of what a normal vehicle looks like.

We met the son of one of the deceased, (a lady), who said the deceased were all returning from a funeral in Matom (what am irony). The son, who is an army officer, said he stayed back in Matom, for a drink, while his late mother said she would proceed to Yaounde. Herself and five others boarded the ill-fated Avensis vehicle. The young man said it was the shock of his life, to be told that the mother he had said good bye to, a few minutes earlier, was dead.

He arrived the scene and was the ne who extirpated his mother's corpse from the carcass. The corpses are presently at the Yaounde Military Hospital.

This is extremely sad, as it was an accident which could have been avoide if the car hadn't been driving bumper to bumper behind the mini bus.
You need to see how people drive along that Yaounde - Douala Highway, inspite of its terrible reputation.  Can you blame it on the roads in this case?

I will put up some pics of the accident shortly, they re dark because we got to the scene this evening. It's terrible, the twisted door of the Avensis car is still hanging infront of the Butrans bus, a piece of a woman's loin cloth, attached to the wreckage. I really don't get it, why can't we practice safe driving on our roads.


Guys, can this be explained?