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Fifty dead after boat capsizes in DRC river
[Al Jazeera] At least 50 people have died in a boat accident in the northwestern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... (DRC), according to officials. The boat which had been transporting passengers and goods tipped over in the Mombovo River as it made its way from Monkoto to Mbadanka on Wednesday night. "We found 49 bodies on Thursday and another one this morning," Tshuapa Vice-Governor Richard Mboyo Iluka was quoted as saying on Friday by AFP news agency. It was still not clear how many people were on board or how many had survived, with search and rescue missions still under way. "The causes of the sinking and the number of people missing are not yet known. The provincial government has already sent a team to find out more," Mboyo said. He pointed out that the boat had been travelling by night and without light, which is illegal under government safety measures. River transportation is common in the DRC where fewer roads means travellers often have no option but to rely on boats as a low-cost form of transportation. Posted by: Fred 2018-05-26 |
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