A fire of accidental origin caused by fireworks killed at least 16 people in the early hours of Sunday (23) in a nightclub in an upscale neighborhood of Yaoundé, the capital of Cameroon.
This tragedy occurs when the country hosts the African Cup of Nations (CAN), the main competition of African football.
Fires are not uncommon in Cameroon in night establishments, as are fatal stampedes, but the number of victims of this tragedy is the highest in recent years.
The tragedy occurred in the middle of the night in the main hall of Liv’s Night Club, located in the Bastos neighborhood, which houses luxurious homes, embassies and diplomats’ residences.
“An accidental fire” broke out and “the first report points to 16 dead (…) and eight seriously injured”, the Communications Ministry announced in a statement.
“The drama, which was caused by fireworks normally used in these locations, first consumed the roof of the building, resulting in two large-scale explosions, causing panic and stampede,” the ministry explained.
“When we arrived, there was panic, there was a fire with a lot of smoke,” a Yaoundé fire official told AFP. “We count 16 dead and five wounded.”
In the establishment’s courtyard, some charred objects evoke a fire, but the nightclub’s facade was neither destroyed nor charred, noted an AFP journalist.
“It was very fast, it was just after 2 am and most customers arrive around 3 am, it happened in the salon,” a security guard who was present at the time of the tragedy told AFP.
One hundred people were gathered at the end of the morning in the morgue of the military hospital in Ekounou.
There, women screamed their pain, lying on the ground, others, in tears, were supported by family members.
Farther on, men and women, prostrate, sat mourning on wooden benches.
“I didn’t know anything. I woke up this morning and was told that my 38-year-old son had died,” said Fidèle.
“I was waiting for my brother and his friends last night for dinner but they didn’t come and around 7am I got calls from everywhere asking if my brother was alive or dead and I came to the morgue, I already identified his body ”, said Claude, daughter of Fidèle and sister of the victim.
“They were five, they were celebrating a bachelor party. Only one survived,” he said.
“I lost my little brother,” screamed Stéphane Hamza, 38. “He was a good and friendly boy, who worked as a waiter at the club for about two months. When I heard about the explosion, I went to the morgue and learned he was dead.”
In Douala, the economic capital in the south, in the last six years, at least five clubs were the scene of accidental fires that partially or totally destroyed the establishment.
A nightclub was also the scene two years ago of a deadly stampede after a fight.
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