A landslide caused by heavy rainfall on Sunday evening killed at least 23 people in Cameroon's capital, Yaounde, as the search for more victims continues.

When it rains, Yaounde frequently experiences landslides since many of the city's slopes are home to occasionally perilously constructed residences.

According to state broadcaster CRTV, torrential rain caused a dam holding back an artificial lake lying on higher land to burst.

"Yesterday we pulled out 15 people who had died and this morning we have found eight. We are still looking " the fire service's second in command, David Petatoa Poufong, told reporters at the site.

According to AFP, distressed relatives watched as firefighters drove away the bodies of some of the victims covered in sheets.

A security cordon was in place to keep onlookers and media away from the area where the landslip occurred.

Images shown on television, however, revealed a whole chunk of a hill had collapsed, along with what remained of what appeared to be buildings made of wood, dry mud bricks, and metal sheeting.

According to the AFP journalist, the wreckage of hillside homes destroyed by the landslip could be seen in the distance.

In November last year, at least 15 people died when a landslide engulfed members of a funeral party in Yaounde's working-class district of Damas, on its eastern outskirts.

Forty-three people were killed in the western city of Bafoussam in 2019 when a landslide triggered by heavy rains swept away a dozen flimsy dwellings built on the side of a hill.