Yaounde: Over 100 students injured in GBHS Etoug-Ebe stampede!.

In a reaction on his X platform, formerly Twitter, hours after the incident, the Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie, confirmed the figures.

He indicated that those injured were responding to treatment in different health facilities across Yaounde. 

According to eyewitness reports, the stampede occurred at about 8:30 a.m. Hundreds of students whom sources said, came late, forced open the school gate against instructions from the school management.

As the students were forcefully accessing the campus, there was stampede as some walked over their mates. 

In the process, many students are said to have gone unconscious. They were later transported on board ambulances to health facilities.

In the process, another angry group of students, among them individuals whom the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, for Mfoundi, Emmanuel Mariel Djikdent, said were not students, turned the campus upside down.

Properties, including at least a car said to be that of the Vice Principal, books, other documents, benches were destroyed.

Principal on what went wrong

According to the Principal of the institution, Foju Catherine, the latecomers were asked to wait outside until after the hoisting of the flag. This, she said, has been the tradition.

Foju said when those in charge tried to orderly send the students into the school premises, some forcefully made their way through, resulting in chaos.

“I was informed after the morning assembly that so many students had come late. I had to speak to the students on the need to come early to school so as not miss classes or be expelled,” Foju said, adding that: “After the talk, we asked the students to line up and enter the campus in an orderly manner”.

She underscored that: “While entering, older students started agitating and pushed open the second side of the gate...with everyone trying to enter at the same time, the younger ones in front fell and sustained some injuries”.

In the wake of the incident, the Senior Divisional Officer of Mfoundi, Emmanuel Mariel Djikdent, rushed to the school. 

The Prefect told reporters that: “We were told that there was a Disciplinary Council meeting last Thursday and there are some students who, maybe, did not want the results to be published”.

The SDO restated that most of the destruction on campus had been done by outsiders and not students.

“All the vandalism was not done by students. Some young people came in from outside and we have them on video surveillance,” the official added.

Meanwhile, medical teams, law enforcement officials and psychologists were also dispatched to the scene to provide immediate and necessary assistance.

Parents and guardians flooded the premises in shock, to find out what exactly was happening.

One of them told The Guardian Post that: “A friend called to inform me that there was a stampede”, detailing that she rushed to the school to see if her daughter was among the victims.

Other parents rushed to nearby health facilities to check the situation of their kids.

The National President of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation, PCRN, Hon Cabral Libii, was among officials who visited the school. 

He said after reading about the incident on social media, he rushed to the school but discovered that nobody actually died as some had claimed.

Governor also visits school

The Governor of the Centre Region, Naseri Paul Bea, later visited the school to assess the situation. 

The administrator said no death was recorded. He instructed stakeholders to work to ensure classes resume today without any hitches.