Context: Read the previous brief on this event.
The closure of Metafrique Steel's Douala plant ordered on 4 November 2026 remains in force, Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development Fuh Calistus Gentry said, as a dispute over the plant's ownership and the accident's death toll emerged.
The brief of 5 November 2026 reported that the 2 November 2026 accident at the Bassa plant killed five people and left 12 others seriously injured, and that Gentry ordered the plant shut until it implements the recommendations of an administrative and technical inquiry under the National Inspection Committee. A second account published on 6 November 2026 puts the death toll at eight and says the first fatal accident at the same plant occurred on 1 May 2026.
The same account says Metafrique Steel is owned by the Lebanese group of Hayssam El Jammal, not by Indian shareholders as some officials and media have said. It cites a share transfer signed on 9 October 2017 at Stephenson Harwood Middle East LLP, transferring the plant's shares to Steel Market SAL Offshore, signed by El Jammal under a board resolution of 26 August 2017. The company's management said in a statement that Arun Goswami is not a shareholder. Metafrique Steel director general Ahmed Jaber did not respond to the claim.
The brief of 5 November 2026 said the closure would affect jobs, suppliers and the production chain in Douala, which accounts for about 90% of Cameroon's industrial capacity. The ownership question now adds a regulatory dimension: the ministries with oversight of the plant have not said whether they verified its ownership.