Congo lake tragedy: Dozens dead and scores missing after boat overturns
At least 19 people have died after heavy winds caused a boat to capsize on the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lake Mai-Ndombe, the governor of Mai-Ndombe province says.
The boat had left the village of Kiri for the capital Kinshasa when it capsized on Thursday night, local government and civil society sources said.
River boats are the main form of transport in many rural parts of DR Congo but vessels are often outdated and accidents are frequent.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Yesterday we recovered nine bodies, and today ten more were pulled from the water, bringing the total to 19 dead and 82 survivors,” provincial governor Nkoso Kevani Lebon said, adding he did not know how many people might be missing.
“The cause of the incident was a violent wind on the lake that disabled one of the boat’s two engines, causing it to capsize,” he told Reuters.
Another government official, Freddy Bonzeke Iliki, estimated that the boat had been carrying at least 200 passengers and said the search for bodies continued.
“It is following incidents like these that we discover that the regulations concerning tonnage and passenger capacity were not being respected,” said Iliki, a representative for the Mushie territory in Mai-Ndombe province.
He said he had already proposed a ban on makeshift wooden boats on Lake Mai-Ndombe but that it had not been instituted.
About 200 people died in two separate riverboat accidents in other parts of DR Congo in September.
