The incident occurred in the night of Saturday 22 to Sunday 23 July at Mobil Guinness. The causes of the accident are not yet known. No official announcement had been made .

Several people died and others were injured when an apartment block collapsed on Sunday 23 July in Douala, . The state-owned daily Cameroon tribune reports that at least people died, citing a provisional (unofficial) death toll drawn up by the fire brigade. Breaking monday 24th July, the figures increased to 33 as reported by CRTV Littoral.

Search operations are continuing with a mechanical shovel in the hope of finding other victims or possible survivors. It was an R+4 building that collapsed. The building then leaned against another adjoining R+1 building.

A worker who had been repairing the building said: “I was sleeping and received a call at about five past midnight but I didn’t pick it up.

“At about 00:30 I woke up and realised people had been trying to reach me. Then I heard the news which is so tragic. There were some signs of problems but we were working on it, we were working on the perimeter of the building.“

Building collapses are a frequent occurrence in the country, where many buildings are constructed without authorisation or in disregard of town planning standards. In June 2016, at least five people died when a residential building under construction in Logbati, a working-class district of Douala, collapsed.
The local authorities pointed the finger at the building’s failure to comply with technical construction standards.