A boat tragedy in Congo claims at least 19 lives

The governor of Mai-Ndombe province announced on Saturday that a boat capsized on Lake Mai-Ndombe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo due to strong winds, killing at least 19 persons.

According to accounts from the local administration and civic society, the boat capsized on Thursday night after leaving the town of Kiri for the capital, Kinshasa.

In many rural areas of the Congo, river boats are the primary mode of transportation; nevertheless, these boats are frequently out-of-date, and accidents are common.

Nkoso Kevani Lebon, the provincial governor, stated, “Yesterday we recovered nine bodies, and today ten more were pulled from the water, bringing the total to 19 dead and 82 survivors,” although he was unsure of the exact number of missing persons.

“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,” according to him.

Freddy Bonzeke Iliki, another government official, stated that the hunt for bodies was still ongoing and estimated that the boat had been carrying at least 200 people.

Iliki, a national delegate for the Mushie territory in Mai-Ndombe province, stated, “It is after incidents like these that we discover that the regulations concerning tonnage and passenger capacity were not being respected.”

He claimed that although he had previously suggested it, a ban on improvised wooden boats on Lake Mai-Ndombe had not yet been implemented.

In September, two different river boat catastrophes in other sections of the Congo claimed the lives of almost 200 individuals.