Four die at CRTV Logbessou transmission centre

From Ashu Tidings in Douala
 
Four technicians have lost their lives at the Cameroon Radio and Television Corporation, CRTV Logbessou transmission centre in Douala when an industrial accident occurred at the site on Friday September 26.
Also, the Littoral and South West regions have been deprived of radio and television signals from the national station as well as other sister channels that were making use of the transmission pylon which collapsed.
According to an inhabitant of Logbessou who witnessed the tragedy, Armand Manga, five technicians were working on one of the heavy metal pillars when apparently one of the security rope got cut, thereby destabilising equilibrium on the pylon. The heavy metals then collapsed, killing four on the spot and seriously injuring the surviving technician.
The deceased technicians, we gathered from security officials, were: Bouma Njeck Alain, Epoh Hubert, Njoh François and Massock P.
CRTV officials in Douala told reporters that the technical team had successful replaced one of the heavy metal pillars of the pylon the previous Thursday. The technicians only met their Golgotha during the second phase of maintenance work at the transmission centre.
The transmission centre was responsible for the diffusion of CRTV radio and TV signals, BBC and RFI, telecommunication experts noted.
Following Friday’s tragedy, the minister of communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary and the general manager of CRTV, Amadou Vamoulke, on the instructions of the prime minister, came down to Douala on Saturday to have an appraisal of the damage.
While in Douala, they extended government’s condolence to the bereaved families and promised that the transmission centre will be reinstated within the shortest time possible to enable the audience in the affected area to have signals once more.
During a crises meeting, stakeholders proposed that pylons in transmission centres across the national territory should be regularly checked and replaced if need be, to avoid a repeat of the Logbessou scenario.
Last Friday’s tragedy appears to be the first to have befell a technical team on CRTV site since the state corporation was created.