Tragedy on Lake Tanganyika: 41 Dead in Congolese Vessel Sinking

A boat carrying around 100 people and cargo sank in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lake Tanganyika.

Norris Mulongoyi, the Minister of Transport for the Tanganyika province, said that 49 people were saved, 41 have died in the disaster, and the search remains ongoing for the missing individuals.

The vessel which capsized off Mapera village was sailing to Kalemie from Tanzania’s Kigoma Port when the accident occurred.

Annie Moyoni, who was saved by the authorities, said in an interview that everyone was sleeping when they suddenly woke up at around 1 a.m., only to find the vessel dangerously tilting to one side.

Passengers panicked, and everything happened very quickly amidst the chaos. The cause of the accident is under investigation; however, this is not the first time that people have died in this manner.

In Congo, travelling on boats is the cheapest way to go around the country, which is one of the poorest in the world and lacks basic infrastructure for its 100 million people.

This is in fact the second such incident in a month on the Kigoma-Kalemi route, where ships often travel overloaded without enough life jackets or safety gear.

Last month, another ship, the MV Pacifique, burst into flames and reported explosions while it was loading fuel at the Port of Kigoma.

In the accident, 6 crew lost their lives, and another one went missing, as per port officials, who added that the vessel frequented between Kalemie and Kigoma and was used for transporting fuel.

In July, 20 people, mostly students, died when they were coming back on a wooden boat after giving state examinations. The ship went down in the central Democratic Republic of the Congo.