Agencies | Kinshasa:
At least 41 people have died and 49 others have been rescued after a boat carrying passengers and cargo capsized on Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), officials said.
Norris Mulongoyi, provincial transport minister for Tanganyika province, said search and rescue operations were continuing to locate passengers who remained unaccounted for after the vessel sank near the Congolese village of Mapera.
The boat was reportedly carrying around 100 people along with cargo when it capsized on Thursday while travelling from the Tanzanian port of Kigoma to Kalemie in the DRC.
A survivor, Annie Moyoni, told Radio Okapi, a UN-backed Congolese broadcaster, that passengers were awakened at around 1am after the vessel began tilting sharply to one side.
The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
Boat accidents are relatively frequent in the DRC, where vessels often operate with limited safety equipment and can be overcrowded. Life jackets are also not consistently available, according to reports.
For many people in the DRC, which has a population of more than 100 million, water transport remains one of the most affordable means of travelling between communities because of limited road and other transport infrastructure.
Second Major Incident on Route in a Month
The latest sinking is the second major incident involving a Congolese vessel operating on the Kigoma-Kalemie route in less than a month.
On August 28, the Congolese vessel MV Pacifique caught fire and exploded at the port of Kigoma while loading fuel, according to Radio Okapi. Six crew members were killed, while another was reported missing. The vessel was used to transport fuel between Kigoma and Kalemie.
In another major accident in July, at least 20 people died after a wooden boat carrying students returning from state examinations sank in central DRC.
The latest tragedy has again highlighted safety concerns surrounding passenger and cargo transport on Lake Tanganyika, one of Africa’s major inland waterways.
