EXACTLY ONE YEAR AFTER THE TRAGIC ESEKA TRAIN ACCIDENT

Friday October 21 2016 or 'black Friday' was declared a national mourning day by president Paul
Biya because of the tragic Eseka train accident which claimed over 80 Cameroonians and left hundreds more wounded. The whole nation was affected. It's exactly a year after this accident and life in the whole nation and in the Nyong and Kelle division in particular is normal, even though the memories are still fresh. Here is what Journal Du Cameroun  gathered during a visit to Eseka town in the Nyong and Kelle division.

On October 21, 2016, Benjamin, a young civil servant, was at his office in Eséka. Like every Friday, it was a relaxed morning as some of his colleagues with weekend plans had already gone to the station to wait for the train to Douala. Shortly before 1 pm, he heard a loud noise. “Come and see, come and see,” cried one of his colleagues. When Benjamin bent over the window to look at the valley, a thick cloud of dust rose in the sky. No sooner had the young official had time to realize what he saw that his telephone began to ring. A friend called him from Douala to ask if it was true that the train had just derailed. Benjamin did not know what to say to her. In tears, she had been informed that her husband, passenger of the train leaving Yaounde, had died.
Today, Benjamin is still talking about the strangled voice. “It was terrible. I went to the scene. When I saw what had happened, I started shouting and running like crazy. I was freaking out, terrified. Only then did I realize that I had walked on pieces of human flesh. Bodies were shredded. There was blood everywhere. The passengers who were stucked under the carcasses of the wagons were yelling for help. The survivors, those who had not been wounded, also yelled at the spectacle of the crumbled bodies. When I recovered my sanity, I went to help the injured. My clothes were covered with blood. I had never seen such a horror. Since then, I can no longer eat meat', says Benjamin.

Life is normal in Eseka, even though the pain still hovers, both the young and the old can be seen going about their businesses and day to day activities, and the Eseka train station too is functional.