Death toll from a building collapse in Cameroon’s business hub Duala has risen to 33 with 22 others injured, a senior fire officer and regional governor told media on Monday.
In the early hours of Sunday, the four-story building collapsed onto another residential building in the north of the city.
Authorities put the death toll at 16 on Sunday.
Littoral region governor, Samuel Dieudonne Ivaha Diboua, assured during his visit to the site of the disaster on Sunday that the situation is under control and firefighters are diligently working to ensure no one remains trapped under the rubble.
Laquintinie Hospital in Douala reported on Sunday that it received 13 patients, out of whom two, a three-year-old girl and a 19-year-old young woman lost their lives.
In a similar incident back in 2016, five people lost their lives in Douala under comparable circumstances. Authorities attributed the tragedy to the poor state of repairs and apparent violations of building regulations.
During that year in June, local authorities identified 500 buildings that were at risk of collapse.