Boats collide on Congo River, 11 dead

2011-05-11 15:26

Kinshasa - A boat carrying dozens of people collided with another vessel in a channel on the Congo River, leaving at least 11 dead, according to a Democratic Republic of Congo radio report on Wednesday.

The accident on Monday was confirmed by DRC officials but they did not release a death toll, the UN-backed Radio Okapi reported.

A DRC boat carrying about 100 people returning from a market struck a vessel from neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville about 100km from Kinshasa in the Nkana area, Radio Okapi said, citing witnesses.

The countries share a border of 700km along the 4 700km-long Congo River.

It was the third deadly boating accident in the DRC in less than a month, with the previous ones together leaving around 20 dead and more than 100 missing.

The previous accidents led to the dismissal of transport minister Marie-Laure Kawanda, who was accused of not enforcing respect for navigation regulations.

Boating accidents occur frequently in the DRC, where vessels are often overloaded and run by inexperienced crews, also lacking basic safety apparatus like life jackets.

- SAPA