Police Aspirant Killed In Exams Stampede

By Leocadia Bongben

Elvis Wirba was a victim of the stampede at the Police College in Yaounde last December 29.Wirba was killed in a scramble due to the poor organisation of competitive examination into the police academy.

The death of Wirba was the result of a stampede as thousands of candidates struggled for the rare opportunity of getting into the public service.He was trampled upon by others who fell in the rush to get into the premises of the Yaounde Higher Police School to pay examination fees and submit their files.

One of the candidates indicated that there was a parked car and motorcycle that created an obstacle for the crowd that rushed in and when some of them fell down, others trampled on them.

Though only one person reportedly died, there are conflicting figures on the number of  
police aspirants that lost their lives.Some police officers debunked the conflicting figures that more than six people died, saying that some persons were just unconscious by the time they were rushed to the hospital.

When the incident occurred, 10 people were in critical condition out of the 45 wounded.
A visit to the Central Hospital revealed that only four were hospitalised and the rest  
returned home on the same day of the mishap.

Some candidates blamed the incident on the organisers of competitive examinations who  
confine everything in one place instead of decentralising them.