The Cameroon Railway Company, CAMRAIL has released a statement contradicting the Prime Minister Philemon Yang report on the Eseka train disaster. The Camrail communiqué comes after the publication of a series of CPDM decisions reached by President Biya that indicted the subsidiary Bolloré Transport and Logistics, in the railway sector in Cameroon.

According to the conclusions of the Commission of Inquiry, created on 25 October by the Head of State, excessive speed was at the root of the train derailment. “The main cause of the accident was excessive speed (96 km / h) in a section of track with a speed limited of 40 km / h,” the statement said, citing the report.

The concessionaire of the railway in Cameroon disputes this version and returns the blame to the manufacturer of the wagons. “Camrail notes that the report of the Commission of Inquiry appears to be challenging the new rolling stock supplied in 2014 as part of an international tender notice for which Camrail confirms that a dispute was opened. Camrail experts put forward the hypothesis of a failure or lack of design of this material as a cause of the accident and request that an international expertise be carried out.”

Camrail further welcomed the fact that the head of state decided to entrust the case to the justice department and said it has mobilized its insurers within the framework of the continuation of the victim compensation process. To date, more than 1,000 cases are processed daily by more than 30 employees, doctors, consultants and insurers,” the company said.

It should be noted that since the train accident, on October 21, 2016, the intercity train, which connects the two main Cameroonian cities, Douala and Yaoundé, has not yet resumed service.

By Chi Prudence Asong