Fifteen people accompanying the body of a relative being transported for his funeral were killed in Cameroon on Friday when the minibus they were traveling in collided with a truck, the driver of which also died, the transport minister announced.

Fatal accidents often occur on the roads of the vast country of central Africa, in which buses are not infrequently involved, especially on National Road 3 (RN3), which connects the capital Yaounde with the financial capital Douala; it was precisely this that became the theater of the new tragedy.

“Sixteen people were killed in the accident,” of which “15 were in the minibus” and the sixteenth was the truck driver, while three other bus passengers were “injured” but survived, Jean-Ernest Massena told state broadcaster CRTV. Ngale Bibehe, the Minister of Transport.

He went to the scene of the accident, in Entea, an industrial town 80 kilometers east of Douala.

“The minibus was carrying a body,” the minister added, noting that he was still unable to explain the cause of the head-on collision between the two vehicles.

CRTV clarified that the passengers were relatives and friends of the deceased who was to be buried.

The road surface of the RN3 is in poor condition, full of potholes, yet many vehicles, including overloaded buses, speed up and sometimes make dangerous overtaking.

The new tragedy unfolded 16 days after the death of 15 passengers on a bus that went off the road in the eastern part of the country and rolled over. Another 68 people were injured in this accident.