At least 30 dead, dozens missing after boats collide on Congo River

At least 30 people have died and dozens more are missing after two motorised wooden boats collided on the Congo River on Sunday evening near Ngombe-Lukolela, in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Provincial interior minister Crispin Mputu told the Associated Press that one boat was travelling from Ubangi in the country’s northwest to the capital, Kinshasa, while the other was heading from Kinshasa to Lukolela, close to where the collision occurred. Search efforts for more victims and survivors are ongoing.

A member of the security forces who witnessed the crash from the riverbank told the AP that the boat returning from Ubangi was overloaded with goods and collided with the one coming from Kinshasa. Speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak publicly, he said almost all the passengers were trapped underwater and the boat itself sank.

Mputu said the dead had already been buried, and noted that nighttime navigation on the river had caused many accidents in the past.

Deadly boating accidents are common in DR Congo, where overcrowded vessels, poor safety standards and a lack of infrastructure are blamed. In July, a wooden boat carrying students back from state exams sank in Kasai province, killing at least 20.