Kinshasa:
More than one hundred individuals are believed dead or missing in the sinking of a makeshift vessel on the Congo river, provincial authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo mentioned Saturday.
Fifty-one bodies had been recovered by late Friday from the sinking throughout the evening of Monday to Tuesday, and one more 69 are believed to be missing, Nestor Magbado, a spokesman for the governor of the northwestern province of Mongala, told AFP.
He mentioned there have been 39 survivors. With no manifest of the passengers on board, the quantity missing is an estimate based on the capacity of the boat, he mentioned.
The vessel was in fact nine classic wooden canoes, identified as pirogues, all tied collectively, Magbado mentioned.
He added that the accident may possibly have been triggered by “overcrowding aggravated by bad weather” throughout the evening.
The scale of the accident was not clear till it was reported by media late on Friday, and confirmed on Saturday by provincial authorities.
Magbado mentioned the Mongala authorities had informed Kinshasa of the sinking just right after it occurred, but had waited for more facts about the quantity of casualties.
Search and rescue operations are continuing, but hopes are fading of discovering more survivors, he mentioned.
Provincial authorities have declared 3 days of mourning from Monday.
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