A minimum of 28 individuals drown after boat capsizes on river in northwest Congo

KINSHASA, Congo — A minimum of 28 individuals drowned after a ship capsized within the Congo River in Equateur province, native authorities stated Sunday.

The boat was touring from Ngondo, an space roughly 74 miles (120 kilometers) from the province’s capital, Mbandaka. and crashed Saturday night time in Bolomba village, Didon Ifete, the administrator for the territory, stated on state radio.

Some 200 passengers have been rescued and an unknown variety of others have been lacking, he stated.

That is the second boat wreck on the Congo River in Equateur province inside every week. On October 14, one other boat capsized, killing no less than 47 individuals and leaving greater than 70 lacking.

In January, no less than 145 passengers went lacking after a motorized boat overloaded with items and animals sank on the river in northwestern Congo.

Boating mishaps are frequent on the Congo River and on the nation’s lakes due to the prevalent use of makeshift boats which are typically overloaded. Nearly all of the inhabitants within the nation’s northwest use the rivers to journey due to a scarcity of sound roads and since it’s a cheaper.

The Congolese authorities banned nighttime river journey all through the nation to stop accidents, though many defy the directive.