Landslide After Heavy Rains In Bafoussam, Cameroon, Buries At Least 42 People

On this day in 2019, authorities in Cameroon deployed soldiers and rescue workers after a torrential downpour caused a landslide that killed at least 42 people overnight near the western town of Bafoussam.

Rescue workers spent the day searching through the wreckage of destroyed homes.

At least 70 people sustained injuries in the landslide. Some were taken to hospitals, where six were in critical conditions. About 20 houses were completely destroyed.

Less than two weeks prior to this day, heavy rains and floods also left at least 100,000 people homeless on both sides of the border between northern Cameroon and Chad.

Further east, in South Sudan, nearly one million people were affected by heavy flooding following heavy rains since July, according to the United Nations.

OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST ON THIS DAY

1856: French Magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin performs for Algerian Marabouts in Algeria to convince them that French magic is the stronger.
1955: Egypt and Saudi Arabia sign a defence treaty.
2017: Twin car bomb attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia, killed at least 27, Islamist militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility.