At least nine people died following a collision between two passenger boats on a waterway connecting Cameroon and Nigeria.

The crash took place early on Sunday at Gold Coast Creek in Cameroon's Kombo Itindi Subdivision, according to local residents and security sources.

The victims were travelling along the frequently used cross-border route when the two vessels collided. Witnesses later recovered the bodies from the water and brought them to shore.

A local journalist, Solomon Agborem, said an eight-year-old child was among those killed. Agborem said the accident occurred at a bend in the creek where visibility was poor, especially because the collision happened in the early morning.

One of the vessels, a 250-horsepower boat, had travelled from Ikang in Nigeria. The other was a smaller 75-horsepower speedboat that had left Ekondo Titi in Cameroon and was bound for Nigeria.

Officials had not immediately released information on the total number of passengers aboard the boats or confirmed whether anyone else was missing or injured.

Gold Coast Creek is part of a busy network of waterways used for movement between communities in Cameroon and Nigeria.