Bafoussam, 31 October, 2019 / 11:32 pm (ACI Africa).
Following the Tuesday, October 29 landslide in Cameroon’s western city of Bafoussam that has claimed the lives of at least 42 people with many others still unaccounted for, the Local Ordinary of Bafoussam diocese has expressed his solidarity with the victims of the tragedy and the affected families and asked his priests to celebrate Mass in their respective parishes in memory of the dead and their kin.
“As the pastor of the diocese of Bafoussam, I extend my sincere and personal condolences to the families and loved ones of those who died in this tragedy,” Bishop Dieudonné Watio stated in a condolence message seen by ACI Africa Wednesday, October 30.
“I ask priests in all parishes of the diocese to celebrate Masses for the victims and their families,” the Bishop said and added, “These Masses should be celebrated from October 30 to Saturday, November 2, being the feast of the commemoration of all the faithful departed.”
According to state media, the landslide left dozens killed after their houses were swept away following days of torrential rain in the locality of Gouache in the Bafoussam 3 municipality.
“The houses that collapsed were built on the side of a hill in a risk zone,” the Governor of the West region, Awah Fonka Augustine, has been quoted as telling state media at the scene of the disaster.