Reports from local sources on Monday reveal that yet another passenger vessel has overturned on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in fatalities and several individuals missing, just one week after a tragic incident claimed the lives of 47 people under similar circumstances.
According to a spokesperson from a civil society organization, the most recent tragedy has claimed the lives of 40 individuals, with dozens more still unaccounted for.
An Equateur province official refrained from providing specific numbers but acknowledged the existence of multiple casualties, as they awaited updates from a team of investigators dispatched to the site.
A wooden riverboat, referred to as a “whaler,” which was transporting passengers and cargo, sank during the night from Saturday to Sunday close to the village of Boyeka along the Lulonga river, as reported by Joseph Boyoko Lokondo from the Generation Conscious pressure group to media.
“The same causes, overloaded and navigating at night, produce the same effects,” he said, deploring a provisional casualty toll of “40 dead, 200 survivors and several dozens missing”.
“After the last shipwreck, the transport minister had promised drastic measures, but nothing happens on the ground” he added.
Transport Minister Marc Ekila confirmed that a minimum of 47 fatalities had been recorded, with an unspecified number of individuals still unaccounted for following the sinking of a whaler on the night of October 13-14.
The minister attributed the cause of this accident to “overloading” and emphasized that “wooden boats” were not permitted to operate during nighttime.
Given the scarcity of viable roads in the expansive Central African nation, transportation predominantly takes place on lakes, the Congo River, and its tributaries, leading to frequent shipwrecks and substantial casualties.
