At Least 19 Dead As Overcrowded Vessel Capsizes On Congo’s Lake Mai-Ndombe

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

KINSHASA (Worthy News) – Pressure intensified Sunday on the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to act on water-transport safety after an overcrowded vessel capsized on Lake Mai-Ndombe, killing at least 19 people.

The tragedy occurred Thursday night shortly after the wooden vessel departed the village of Kiri for the capital, Kinshasa, provincial officials said.

Lake Mai-Ndombe lies in the wider African Great Lakes region, where vast waterways serve as essential — yet often dangerous — transport routes for remote communities. Many boats are outdated, poorly maintained, or overloaded, contributing to frequent accidents.

Provincial governor Nkoso Kevani Lebon said recovery teams found nine bodies on Friday and ten more on Saturday, bringing the death toll to 19, with 82 survivors.

He warned that it remained unclear how many passengers were still missing. “A violent wind on the lake disabled one of the vessel’s two engines, causing it to capsize,” the governor told reporters.

OFFICIALS WARN OF OVERLOADING

Another senior official, Freddy Bonzeke Iliki, estimated the vessel carried at least 200 passengers, far exceeding safe capacity.

Rescue operations were due to continue on Sunday. “Incidents like this show that regulations on tonnage and passenger limits are not being respected,” noted Iliki, a national representative for the Mushie territory.

Iliki added that he previously proposed banning makeshift wooden boats on Lake Mai-Ndombe, but the measure has not been implemented.

Repeated maritime disasters have rocked the DRC.

About 200 people were killed in two separate river-boat accidents elsewhere in the Central African nation in September, highlighting what critics call a systemic failure to enforce basic water-safety standards.

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