Global General

DR Congo lake wreckage kills 9

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-01-30 16:17

KINSHASA: A small fishing boat coupled with two canoes with 42 passengers on board overturned and left nine dead on Lake Tanganyika in Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), a local radio station said on Friday.

Citing a maritime police source based at Tembwe, 68 km from the scene of the wreckage, the radio said the overloading, bad weather and the drunkenness of the crew members were the main causes of the accident, which occurred between Monday night and Tuesday morning. The nine victims included seven children.

The news of the accident arrived quite late at the maritime services at Tembwe because there were difficulties in accessing the Kabumba locality along Lake Tanganyika, the same source said.

Maurice Nkulu Ngoy, a judicial police officer at Kalemie police station, told the radio that similar accidents occur very often as some people do not have proper navigation documents, they are not registered and they escape from paying taxes and take risks by navigating through insecure conditions.