A ferry overloaded with people returning home for Christmas capsized on the Busira River in northeastern Congo. Thirty-eight people were confirmed dead and over 100 others were missing, officials and witnesses said Saturday. So far 20 people have been rescued.
The ferry’s sinking late Friday came less than four days after another boat capsized in the country’s northeast, killing 25 people.
The ferry was traveling as part of a convoy of other ships and the passengers were mostly merchants returning home for Christmas, said Joseph Joseph Kangolingoli, the mayor of Ingende, the last town on the river before the accident scene.
According to Ndolo Kaddy, a resident of Ingende, there were “more than 400 people on the ferry because it stopped at two ports, Ingende and Loolo, on the way to Boende, so there is reason to believe that there were more deaths .”
Congolese officials have often warned against overloading boats and vowed to punish those who violate safety measures on rivers. However, many people in remote areas cannot afford public transport on the few roads available.
At least 78 people drowned in October when an overloaded boat sank in the east of the country, while 80 lost their lives in a similar accident near Kinshasa, the country’s capital, in June.
The latest accident sparked anger over the government’s failure to equip the convoy with flotation devices.
Nesty Bonina, a local government member and prominent figure in Mbandaka, capital of Équateur province where the ferry sank, condemned authorities for failing to properly handle the recent sinkings.
“How can a ship navigate at night under the watchful eyes of river service workers? And now we have over a hundred deaths,” Bonina said.
Capsizes of overloaded boats are becoming increasingly common in this Central African country as more people abandon the few available roads for safety reasons in favor of wooden ships that collapse under the weight of passengers and their goods.
Deadly clashes between Congolese security forces and rebels are common on the roads, sometimes blocking key access routes.
