Truck explosion kills five in Cameroon

Truck explosion kills five in Cameroon

At least fifteen people were killed in an explosion that involved a vehicle carrying smuggled fuel from Nigeria into Cameroon at a border village on Monday.

One person out of the dead was Nigerian while others were Cameroonian.

Report says a passenger aboard the vehicle had lit a cigarette when the incident happened.

Illicit trade

Such incidents were said to be common in Cameroon's three northern regions as a result of Nigeria's cheap, subsidised fuel known locally as "zoua-zoua" or "funge".

Report says the fuel can fetch three times the price in Cameroon than it is sold for in Nigeria.

Porous border

Successful efforts have been made by security forces to eliminate the illicit trade in petrol between Cameroon and Nigeria in English-speaking South-West and North-West regions in the mid-1990s.

However, such effort failed in the northern part of the country because of porous borders.

According to report, at least 230 people were killed when a fuel tanker overturned and exploded in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo a year ago

REUTERS/Shakira/Williams