At least 145 passengers are missing and feared dead after a motorised boat overloaded with goods and animals sank at night on a river in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC], authorities said.
About 55 people survived the disaster, officials said on Thursday.
Boat sinkings causing dozens of fatalities are all too common in remote parts of Congo, where travel by road is at times impossible. Many watercraft are overloaded with goods and people who don’t know how to swim. Rescue operations are extremely limited in remote parts of the country.
In October, more than 40 people died on the Congo River in Equateur province under similar circumstances.
