At least 143 people have been confirmed dead and dozens remain unaccounted for after a fuel-laden wooden boat caught fire and overturned on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo earlier this week.
The tragic incident occurred Tuesday near Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur Province, where the Congo River meets the Ruki.
Confirming the number of fatalities on Saturday, Josephine-Pacifique Lokumu, a member of the national parliament, said the boat was carrying hundreds of people when the fire erupted.
Initial recovery efforts led to the retrieval of 131 bodies on Wednesday. An additional 12 were found on Thursday and Friday, some severely burned.
Civil society leader Joseph Lokondo, who participated in the burials, put the provisional death toll at 145, stating that some victims had drowned while others were burned alive.
Lokumu explained that the fire began after a woman ignited a cooking fire near the vessel’s fuel storage, triggering a massive explosion that rapidly consumed the boat.
Harrowing footage posted online shows the boat engulfed in flames, stuck in the river while nearby small boats watched helplessly.
The exact number of passengers aboard remains unknown, though Lokumu estimated it was in the hundreds.
Some survivors were taken to hospitals, but many families are still searching for missing relatives.
With its massive size and limited infrastructure, the DRC heavily relies on water transport. Unfortunately, safety standards are often lacking, leading to frequent and deadly accidents.
In similar incidents, dozens perished in 2023 and nearly 100 people died in a 2019 disaster on Lake Kivu.