A fire broke out on Sunday, September 18 at the “Chinese market” in the Akwa district.

The third weekend of September ended with losses in the country’s economic capital, Douala. A fire broke out at the “Chinese Market” shopping centre in the the Akwa neighborhood in the afternoon of Sunday September 17.

As the fire brigade, coordinated by the Governor of the Littoral region, Samuel Dieudonné Iva Diboua, worked to bring the blaze under control, part of the mall went up in smoke. The flames are said to have started in a shop at the back of the hardware store before spreading to the rest of the devastated premises.

One building collapsed on another in the Nyalla-Parizo district the day before, Saturday September. 16. The two houses were on in a hilly area. The governor of the Littoral region visited the site to assess the situation. Technical shortcomings, the dangerous nature of the site and the heavy rains in the city are thought to be the causes of this tragedy.