No fewer than 100 people are believed to be either dead or missing following the sinking of a makeshift vessel on the Congo river, provincial authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo disclosed on Saturday.
Speaking to reporters on Saturday. a spokesman for the governor of the northwestern province of Mongala, Nestor Magbado, stated that fifty-one bodies had been recovered by late Friday from the sinking during the night of Monday to Tuesday, and another 69 are believed to be still missing.
He disclosed that luckily, there were 39 survivors.
With no manifest of the passengers on board, the number missing is an estimate based on the capacity of the boat, he said.
The vessel was actually nine traditional wooden canoes, known as pirogues, all tied together, Magbado said.
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He added that the accident may have been caused by “overcrowding aggravated by bad weather” during the night.
The scale of the accident was not clear until it was reported by media late on Friday, and confirmed on Saturday by provincial authorities.
Magbado said the Mongala authorities had informed Kinshasa of the sinking just after it occurred but had waited for more information about the number of casualties.
Search and rescue operations are continuing, but hopes are fading of finding more survivors, he said.
Africa Daily News, New York can confirm that provincial authorities have declared three days of mourning from Monday.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
