At least 30 people have died and dozens remain missing after two boats collided on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The collision occurred on Sunday evening near the Ngombe-Lukolela area of Equateur Province, according to the provincial Interior Minister, Crispin Mputu. The two vessels, both motorised wooden boats, crashed into each other under circumstances that remained unclear at the time of reporting. Mputu said travelling on the river at night had contributed to several accidents in the past.
The minister told the Associated Press that the 30 confirmed victims had already been buried, while search and rescue operations continued to locate other passengers and possible survivors. One of the boats was travelling from Ubangi in north-western DR Congo towards the capital, Kinshasa. The second vessel was travelling from Kinshasa towards Lukolela, near the location of the collision.
A security officer who said he witnessed the incident from the riverbank told the AP that the boat travelling from Ubangi was overloaded with goods when it collided with the other vessel.
“Almost all the passengers on board were trapped underwater, and the boat itself also sank,” the officer said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to speak publicly.
The latest accident adds to a long-running pattern of deadly boat disasters in DR Congo. Night-time navigation, overcrowded vessels, poor safety standards and inadequate infrastructure in remote communities have frequently been cited as factors behind fatal incidents on the country’s waterways.
Authorities are continuing efforts to establish the full number of passengers involved in the collision.
