A boat has capsized after catching fire in the northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), leaving at least 50 people dead and hundreds missing, a local official has said.
The search for the missing was under way on Wednesday with rescue teams supported by the Red Cross and provincial authorities, following the accident on the Congo River late Tuesday night.
The motorised wooden boat with about 400 passengers caught fire near the town of Mbandaka, after having left the port of Matankumu for the Bolomba territory, Competent Loyoko, the river commissioner, told The Associated Press news agency.
The incident began while someone was cooking on board, Loyoko said.
Several passengers, including women and children, died after jumping into the water without being able to swim. About 100 survivors were taken to an improvised shelter at the Mbandaka town hall, many of them with bad burns.
Deadly boat accidents are common in the central African country, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani said, reporting from Goma. He said rescue teams were often inexperienced and unequipped to manage emergencies.
Hundreds have been killed in boat accidents in recent years as more people abandon the few available roads for wooden vessels packed with passengers and their goods.
In December, at least 38 people died after a ferry carrying more than 400 people travelling for Christmas capsized on a river in the northeastern DRC.
A boat capsized in Lake Kivu, in the eastern DRC, in October, killing 78 people.
