France, Oct. 21 -- The Camrail train was travelling from Yaounde to Douala when it derailed near the town of Eseka, around 100 kilometres from the capital, on 21 October 2016.

That morning, traffic on the road linking Cameroon's political capital Yaounde with its economic capital Douala was disrupted, prompting large numbers of people to take the train instead. Numerous carriages were added to cope with the influx of passengers.

An investigation later found that the train was travelling at 96 kilometres per hour on a section limited to 40 kilometres per hour. It also pointed to an overloaded train, the inappropriate addition of extra carriages and carriages with defective braking systems.

The report said Camrail management had failed t...