By Jean-Yves Kamale, KINSHASA
DR Congo
The majority of the 50 passengers aboard a wooden boat that capsized on a lake in eastern Congo are presumed to be dead, a local official said.
The boat crossing Lake Kivu
was also carrying 20 bags of cement and likely sank Sunday due to being
overloaded, said Mustafa Mamboleo, an official with South Kivu province.
Mamboleo said 10 people
survived and three bodies had been found, and the search continued for about 37
people.
Deadly boating accidents occur
frequently in Congo, where crews often overload small wooden vessels. Earlier
in January, 22 people died on Lake Maî-Ndombe. Last April, six were killed and
64 went missing on Lake Kivu.
Maritime regulations often are
not adhered to, Daniel Lwaboshi, director of Congo’s Public Riverways
Authority, said Monday on state television, adding that another primary driver
of such accidents is overloading.
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