At least 107 people died after a whaleboat caught fire on the Congo River near Malange village in Lukolela territory in western Democratic Republic of Congo, an internal government report said on Friday.
The Ministry of Social Affairs said 146 people were missing after the Thursday evening blaze. Rescue teams recovered 209 survivors, several with injuries, as the vessel burned and drifted downstream. The fire destroyed cargo on board and ignited 15 riverside homes, the report added.
Search operations continued on Friday, with naval personnel and community volunteers combing the riverbanks. Authorities pledged medical care for the injured, assistance to bereaved families, and the repatriation of survivors to their points of origin and destination.
River transport is a lifeline across Congo’s vast rainforest, where old wooden vessels connect remote communities. Accidents are frequent, often linked to overloading, poor maintenance and night-time navigation.
The tragedy follows a separate wreck late Wednesday at the confluence of the Nsolo and Great Maringa rivers in Basankusu territory, northeast of Malange, where at least 86 people died and local residents pulled eight survivors from the water, state media reported. A civil society activist, Akula Mboyo, said the motorised canoe “sank due to blatant overloading and night-time navigation, which is formally prohibited.”
Rescue work is often hampered by scarce resources and the remoteness of accident sites. The death toll from the Basankusu incident could not be independently verified, and officials were not immediately reachable for comment.