Girl abandoned after being reportedly hit by MTN poles dies

By Tata Mbunwe

Eighteen-year-old Ngassam Fortune, reportedly hit by a pole belonging to Mobile Telephone Company, MTN, last year has died in a hospital in Yaounde. Many have said she died of neglect.

Ngassam is reported to have died on Thursday, March 31. This was after she suffered from paralyses, skull injury and other fractures after the incident.

She is said to have been hit by two poles belonging to MTN on April 3, 2021, in Yaounde. The telecommunications company has been accused of failing to assume any responsibility and has remained indifferent to the situation, despite having been informed of the incident.

Reports say Ngassam was only at the mercy of family members, whose limited financial means could not enable her undergo necessary operations.

According to United4Cameroon, a non-governmental organisation that had been monitoring and helping the girl, MTN has not replied to any of the messages forwarded to the company regarding the incident.

The incident left almost her entire body paralysed, but doctors were hopeful she could recover if necessary medical treatment was administered.

During the last days of her life, she is said to have developed serious injuries, which later plunged her into a coma at the Yaounde Central Hospital, where she was being treated.