Around 200 people are missing after a boat caught fire and sank last week on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a spokesperson for the UN mission in the central African country said on Saturday.
Spokesperson Alexandre Essome quoted the owner of the ferry as saying he had ”no news” of 200 of its passengers, while 301 others had been rescued after Monday’s incident on the Congo river.
The UN Mission in the DRC (Monuc) said in a statement that all the passengers’ possessions on the ship had burned in the disaster, which was caused by a fire in one of the ferry’s engines.
Three patrol boats and a helicopter worked on Friday and Saturday to help survivors and take them to the regional centre of Mbandaka. The UN mission has also sent 2 000 bottles of mineral water, while aid organisations have despatched blankets and medecines.
The sinking of the boat came only two months after an overcrowded ferry capsized during a storm on Lake Maindombe in the DRC, killing at least 130 of its passengers. – Sapa-AFP