Explosion kills four at Cameroon 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 Cameroon's ‌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.