Villagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo searched for bodies in Lake Kivu on Friday after a passenger boat capsized the day before, killing dozens of people.
As of Friday afternoon, 15 bodies had been discovered and 34 people were still missing, according to a local chief, a civil society leader, and survivors of the wreck.
Villages along the lake in Congo’s South Kivu province are isolated due to lack of roads, and boats are homemade and frequently overloaded. The sunk boat was an old wooden pirogue that transported people to market from village to village.
According to the driver, it was only supposed to hold 50 people but sank with 157 on board.
‘We are searching for the bodies of our loved ones who drowned in Lake Kivu. They are family members, fathers and mothers, young men and women and even children,’ Heri Nyarukanyi, who lost three family members in the crash, spoke out.
‘It was on the way to Nyatshibingu, after adding more passengers and sailing about 25 metres, that the canoe split in two and many died,’ he explained.
The boat’s remains, filled with water, floated near the grassy shore of Nyatshibingu.
Boat accidents are common in Congo, which has few tarred roads and poor enforcement of safety regulations across its vast, forested territory.
In January and June of this year, dozens of people are believed to have drowned in similar accidents on Lake Kivu.
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