At least 34 missing after military ship sinks off Cameroon

The BIR is an anti-terrorist force which protects the country's borders and is mostly involved in the fight against Boko Haram in the northern part of the country.

At least 34 people have been declared missing on Monday after a military vessel sank off the Central African Country Cameroon's Atlantic coast, reports said. Three soldiers have been rescued.

Cameroon's Defense Minister Joseph Beti Assomo said that the military has been deployed to investigate and search operations are on.

''A helicopter was able to spot traces of fuel and thus directed maritime patrols to the likely spot of the capsizing. Three soldiers were rescued but the boat seems to have sunk to the bottom of the waters... Thirty-four personnel have so far been reported missing," said a ministry statement, Anadolu news agency reports.

The BIR is an anti-terrorist force which protects the country's borders and is mostly involved in the fight against Boko Haram in the northern part of the country.

The oil-rich Bakassi peninsula was handed over to Cameroon by Nigeria following an International Court of Justice ruling, reports AP.

Nigerian forces had occupied the area in the 1980s, leading to violent confrontations with Cameroon's military.

(More details awaited)