DR Congo shipwreck death toll rises to 22

The death toll after a boat sank last week in the Democratic Republic of Congo rose to 22, after more bodies were pulled from Lake Kivu on Tuesday.

Officials last week said eight people had drowned after a motorised canoe broke in two on Thursday, as it ferried dozens of people and goods to market.

DR CONGO SHIPWRECK DEATH TOLL 

But on Monday the bodies of five more people were found, and on Tuesday nine more were recovered, Dede Mwamba, an administrator for DR Congo’s Kalehe area said, bringing the toll to 22.

Of the 145 people on board, 111 had survived, he added. A dozen were still missing.

READ: DR Congo shipwreck: Eight dead, 20 missing

COMMON SHIPWRECKS AT HUMAN COST 

The large lake, straddling the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with Rwanda, is one of many waterways in constant use in the vast country where roads are often not fit for purpose.

But in changeable weather, with waves slamming the hulls of perilously overloaded wooden boats where safety rules are routinely ignored, shipwrecks often occur at a heavy human and material cost.

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MANDATORY LIFE JACKETS 

In 2019, a shipwreck claimed around 100 lives on the lake, prompting President Felix Tshisekedi to make life jackets compulsory for every passenger.

But in the canoes on Lake Kivu, standard orange life jackets are few and far between.

© Agence France-Presse

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