At least 22 people died when an overcrowded river boat sank in western Democratic Republic of Congo’s Mai-Ndombe province Tuesday after its upper deck collapsed. The victims included 15 women, five men, and two children on a vessel carrying approximately 100 passengers.
Provincial governor Lebon Nkoso Kevani warned that such accidents will continue without the introduction of safer, metallic boats to replace the thousands of wooden vessels currently serving as the primary transport between villages. “There are thousands of these wooden ones circulating on the waters of Mai-Ndombe,” he told Reuters.
Mai-Ndombe senator Anicet Babanga confirmed approximately 30 survivors, with search efforts ongoing to determine the fate of remaining passengers. Provincial officials have deployed to investigate the incident, with many passengers believed to have escaped to shore.
The disaster follows a pattern of boating accidents in Congo, where overloaded wooden vessels frequently serve as the main transportation link between communities. In October, 78 people drowned when a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern Congo.
