68 year old Rev. Father Carlio Girola, of the Arch Diocese of Yaounde was among those killed in the train tragedy at Eseka on Friday the 21^st of October 2016. He was a Good Shepherd serving with the Roman Catholic Parish of Oyom-Abang neighbourhood, located in the 7th District of Yaoundé.

Father Carlio  Girola was expected in Italy via a flight that was supposed to leave from the Yaounde Nsimalen international airport. The man of God turned down the Nsimalen offer and decided to travel by road to join other missionaries in an Air France flight from Douala via Paris to Rome.  He reportedly travelled by coach until Manyai where a bridge had collapsed and prompted him and many others to make a U-turn back to Yaounde to use the train services.

Father Carlio took a selfie informing the “holy see” in Douala that he was already at the Yaounde train station and will be driving to Douala with the Intercity services 152. His pastoral mission here on earth ended at Eseka following the derailment of the Camrail train that claimed the lives of over 80 people. Blessed Are You Rev. Father Carlio Girola!! For You Believe

Father Carlo Girola was the ecclesiastical superior of the Xaverian congregation, located in Yaounde, Bafoussam, Douala, Yagoua and in the Republic of Chad. He was born in Oltrona San Mamette, in the Italian province of Como. From 1984 to 2007 he was a missionary in Cameroon and Chad. In 2007 he was elected member of the Directorate General of the Congregation in Rome. After the end of his term in 2014, he returned to Cameroon to work for the formation of theologians.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai