70 die as boat capsizes and 200 as another boat catches fire
BY NANGAYI GUYSON IN KAMPALA UGANDA – Kinshasa -At least over 70 people on boat have been reported after a riverboat capsized in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend, an official said.
The Sunday , the Equateur Province spokesperson Ebale Engumba said a boat carrying more than 100 estimated passengers hit a rock early on Saturday in northwest DRC and only 15 people survived.
On the another side , a boat also in Kasai Occidental Province left 200 people feared dead after the overloaded boat caught fire on Saturday evening.
The boats are often in poor repair and filled beyond capacity, and the industry is poorly regulated.
The DRC is a vast country of jungles and huge rivers in Central Africa with little more than 480km of paved road. Many people prefer to take boats even if they do not know how to swim.
