Death toll rises to 40 from Cameroon's landslide as rescue efforts continue

Death toll from a landslide in Cameroon's western town of Bafoussam has risen to 40 as of Tuesday afternoon, according to local officials.

Rescue workers search through the rubble following a landslide in Bafoussam Cameroon, October 29, 2019. [Photo: AP]

"Rescue efforts will continue until bodies of all missing ones are found," the region's governor Augustine Awa Fonka told Xinhua, adding that the military and fire fighters have joined the rescuers.

Pregnant women and children are among the victims of the landslide.

The deadly landslide took place Monday night after torrential downpours flooded Bafoussam's Gouache quarter, destroying households and "enormous property," according to witnesses.

"We were sleeping at about 10 p.m. when I heard a loud noise. I stepped outside and realized that all the houses have fallen. I am still very lucky to be alive but the rest of my family is buried in the rubble," Eric Chounang, a father of four who survived the tragedy, told Xinhua.

Officials fear more people are still trapped in the rubble in the affected neighbourhood that was inhabited by more than 100 people.

The only one person who has been recovered from the debris alive is receiving treatment in the hospital, Fonka said.

The government has handed over money for "immediate assistance" to the victims, he added.

Cameroon's western region has been experiencing torrential rains throughout October, with precipitation up to 145 mm in certain parts of the region, according to weather forecasts.