A inquiry has begun in the Democratic Republic of Congo to establish the causes of a fatal accident in which a boat carrying more than 500 people sank after a fire broke out on board, a senior official said on Sunday.
About 200 people are still missing following the tragedy, which happened last Monday as the boat was travelling on the Congo river, while 301 others were rescued — although one has since died.
The governor of Equateur province where the accident took place said that the crew had told him they did not know how to operate either one of two fire extinguishers on board the boat, the H/B Lengi.
”The owners and the crew on the Lengi, which was equipped with two extinguishers, admitted to me that they did not know how to use them because they had not been trained,” said Jean-Bertrand Ewanga.
He added that those found responsible for the fire would be ”severely punished.”
The UN Mission in the DRC (Monuc) said in a statement on Saturday that the fire had been caused by a fire in one of the ferry’s engines.
Monuc sent three boats to Lukolela, 185km south of Mbandaka on Friday and Saturday to pick up the survivors.
The boats were due to arrive back in the provincial capital on Monday.
The H/B Lengi had been sub-contrated to a businessman who is currently being questioned by the authorities, Ewanga said. He has not yet been named.
The theory that the vessel — made up of two long barges slung together — was overcrowded seems to be likely, he added, stressing that it was difficult to say exactly how many passengers were aboard as the passenger list had been destroyed in the accident.
Such accidents are common in Africa, where the boats are often in poor condition and overcrowded and where emergency services lack the equipment needed to launch quick and effective rescue operations.
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 112 of its passengers. – Sapa-AFP