Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have significantly revised the death toll from a recent boat fire to 33.
The mayor of Mbandaka, Yves Balo, confirmed the new figure to AFP on Saturday, stating that 195 people survived the Tuesday blaze on the Congo River.
This official count is considerably lower than earlier reports that suggested at least 143 fatalities.
The wooden boat, carrying over 200 passengers, caught fire near Mbandaka, the capital of Equateur Province.
Mayor Balo detailed that 22 burn victims are receiving hospital treatment, and 29 of the deceased have been buried, with four bodies remaining in the morgue.
He attributed the initial discrepancies in death tolls to confusion with figures from previous, frequent boat disasters on the Congo River.
Funerals for the victims were held in Mbandaka on Friday, with footage showing coffins being transported and displayed.
Families also directly retrieved the bodies of their loved ones. A local deputy reported that the fire was likely ignited by a fuel explosion near a cooking fire.
While search efforts continued, a humanitarian source indicated that hopes of finding more survivors or bodies were fading.
Boat travel is a common but often perilous mode of transportation in the DRC due to the lack of adequate roads.