16 perished in twin accidents due to reckless driving, Government imposes sanctions
By Stephen Tadaha
The government’s preliminary findings have revealed that the August 8 and 9, 2023 deadly accidents, respectively at Kobila, in Doume Subdivision in the East Region and at the Mbe cliff along the Ngaoundere – Garoua stretch were caused by overspeeding.
The revelation is contained in a release from the Minister of Transport, Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, where sanctions were meted out to the interurban transport agencies involved in the two accidents that took away the lives of at least 16 people and injured 69 others.
The first accident occurred on August 8, 2023, and involved an Avenir Kadey interurban bus with number plate LT 653 IC which collided with a truck leading to the death of 7 persons. The second accident that occurred the next day at the Mbe cliff along the Ngaoundere – Garoua stretch, involved a Touristique bus with number plate LT 456 HK that lost control due to overspeeding and found itself in a nearby bush leading to the death of 9 persons.
Consequently, Minister Jean Ernest Massena Ngalle Bibehe suspended the driver’s license of Mohamadou Mansourou, driver of Avenir de la Kadey involved in the first accident. He also Imposed a 15-day suspension on Touristique interurban transport agency for breaching rules and regulations governing road circulation.
Shortly after the touristique accident at the Mbe cliff, the General Manager of the company made an outing, declaring that the accident was caused by a brake failure, killed just 7 and injured 16 contrary to CNA findings which revealed that the driver was over speeding at the time of the accident as confirmed by some witnesses.
The suspension of the Touristique interurban transport agency comes just some months after a previous suspension was levied on the same transport agency for its involvement in another fatal accident on May 9, 2023, that took away the lives of at least 15 persons.
The Minister also recommended the installation of a centralized control and management system for interurban transportation in the two agencies.
