DOUALA, CAMEROON.- An explosion at an iron smelting plant in Cameroon's commercial capital Douala killed at least four people and severely burned 16 others on Monday morning, Samuel Dieudonné Ivaha Diboua, governor of the Littoral Region, said. The blast at the Metafrique Steel facility in the Bassa Industrial Park set off a fire that was later extinguished, and an army rescue unit recovered the four bodies, Diboua told reporters at the scene.
The explosion happened at around 7 a.m. local time on Monday, November 2, 2026, according to local reports, and the fire spread quickly through the factory before emergency services brought it under control. The 16 injured workers, all suffering serious burns, were rushed to Douala General Hospital, where the governor visited them and warned that their condition was grave. "We must not be too optimistic given the severity of the burns," Diboua said, according to Reuters.
Cause still undetermined, company blames an "external factor"
Douala-based manufacturing and trading company Metafrique Steel said its facilities in Bassa Industrial Park had been affected and described an "incident, which was caused by an external factor and whose causes have yet to be determined," without giving further detail. The governor said an investigation has been announced to determine the exact circumstances of the blast, the latest deadly industrial accident in a country where safety enforcement at factories is often questioned after such tragedies.
Diboua visited both the scene and the injured workers in hospital on Monday. No further deaths had been reported by Tuesday, but with all 16 survivors in critical condition with severe burns, hospitals and families were bracing for worse news. The explosion adds to a grim toll of industrial and transport disasters across Central Africa this year, and it comes as Cameroon faces scrutiny over workplace safety in its fast-growing manufacturing zones around Douala, the country's economic hub and busiest port city.
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Sources: Reuters, East African Report, November 2-3, 2026.