Douala: explosion kills 4 at iron smelting plant

An explosion killed at least four people and severely burned ​16 others at an iron ‌smelting plant in Cameroon’s commercial capital Douala on Monday morning, the regional governor ​said. The blast caused a fire which was extinguished, said Samuel Dieudonne ⁠Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region, which has Douala as its ​capital. Douala-based manufacturing and trading company Metafrique Steel said its facilities in Bassa Industrial Park ​had been affected. It said there ​had been an “incident, which was caused by an ‌external ⁠factor and whose causes have yet to be determined,” without going into further detail. An army rescue unit recovered the ​four bodies, ⁠Diboua told reporters. “At the level of the plant, 16 ​burned victims were rescued and ​moved ⁠to the Douala General Hospital … We must not be too optimistic given ⁠the ​severity of the ​burns,” Diboua added. Source: Reuters