At least 55 people were killed after a passenger train derailed in Cameroon on Friday. Nearly 600 people were injured in the mishap, and around 14 are feared still trapped in the wreckage. The Camrail-operated train was heading to the port city of Douala from the African country's capital, Yaounde, when the incident took place on Friday morning [local time], Reuters reported.

Earlier in the day, a section of the main highway linking the two major cities had collapsed, leading to a higher volume of passengers making the train journey. According to a Reuters reporter who was in a wagon towards the front, a railway employee had said that additional coaches had been added to the train to accommodate the extra passengers. However, it is unclear whether this caused the accident.

Camrail, which is operated by French company Bollore, said they had sent teams to the location and were helping to move the injured to a local hospital. The incident took place near the Eseka train station, some 120 km west of Yaounde. Some of the injured were being driven to Douala.

A passenger said rescue workers were pulling out bodies from the derailed wagons. "I've already counted around 40 bodies they've removed," Rachelle Paden said.