This is the second deadly accident with a boat in that region in less than a week
A boat with almost 500 passengers on board caught fire and turned, on Thursday to northwestern the Democratic Republic of Congo (RD Congo), leaving 107 people killed and 146 missing, the Congolese authorities said on Friday.
This is the second deadly accident with a boat in that region in less than a week.
This Thursday’s accident occurred along the Congo River, in the territory of Lukolela, in the province of Ecuador, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs of Congo said in a report.
Precisely a day after 86 people died and several others were missing on Wednesday, also in a boat accident in the territory of Basankusu in the province, raising the total dead to almost 200.
So far the causes of the two accidents are not clear.
The state media attributed Wednesday’s accident the “inadequate load and night navigation”, citing reports of the scene and revealing images that showed residents gathered around the bodies to cry.
A local civil society group blamed the government for Wednesday’s accident and said the number of victims was higher.
But according to the Associte Press news agency, it was not possible so far to contact the authorities to comment on this accident.
Boat wreck is becoming increasingly frequent in this country in central Africa as more people abandon the few available roads and travel on cheaper wooden vessels that disintegrate with the weight of passengers and their goods.
In these trips, life jackets are rare and vessels are usually overloaded.
Many of the boats also travel at night, which complicates rescue efforts during accidents, and many bodies for identifying.
Wednesday’s incident occurred when the vessel, which was carrying students and traders to the bokenda market, turned on the soil river, “Efe Otis Evoloko, spokesman for the Basankusu Civil Society, where the wreck occurred.
According to this source, the vessel had a passenger list, although the authorized number has not been respected.
“The document includes 96 passengers, but according to the testimony of two survivors, they traveled many more, in addition to the goods that the vessel carried,” said the spokesman.
The RDCongo government announced last May the closing of 240 illegal ports in rivers and lakes used daily as transportation roads in a country with scarce infrastructure and an extensive jungle.
Vessels, often precarious, often navigate overloaded and signs are virtually nonexistent.
