Two separate boat accidents this week in the Democratic Republic of Congo killed at least 193 people and left scores missing, authorities and state media reported on Friday. The accidents happened on Wednesday and Thursday, about 95 miles apart in the northwestern Equateur province, per the AP.
- Accident No. 1: A boat with nearly 500 passengers caught fire and capsized Thursday evening along the Congo River in the province's Lukolela territory, Congo's Humanitarian Affairs Ministry said in a report. The report said 209 survivors were rescued following the accident, involving a whaleboat near the village of Malange.
- Accident No. 2: A day earlier, a motorized boat capsized in the Basankusu territory of the province, killing at least 86 people, most of them students, state media reported. Several people were missing, but the reports didn't give a figure of how many.
It wasn't immediately clear what caused either accident, or whether rescue operations were continuing on Friday evening. State media attributed Wednesday's accident to "improper loading and night navigation," citing reports from the scene. Images that appeared to be from the scene showed villagers gathered around bodies as they mourned. A local civil society group blamed Wednesday's accident on the government and claimed the toll was higher. Authorities couldn't be immediately reached for comment.
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The capsizing of boats is becoming increasingly frequent in this Central African nation as more people are abandoning the few available roads for cheaper, wooden vessels crumbling under the weight of passengers and their goods. In such trips, life jackets are rare and the vessels are usually overloaded. Many of the boats also travel at night, complicating rescue efforts during accidents and often leaving many bodies unaccounted for.
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