Al Jazeera Reports

Many dead in DR Congo boat accident

Travel is often limited to aircraft and boats that ply Congo's huge network of rivers [EPA]

At least 73 people have been killed after a boat sank on a lake in the west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, it has emerged.

DR Congo's branch of the Red Cross said on Saturday that a logging boat that was not authorized to take passengers sank during bad weather on Wednesday.

"We are at 272 survivors and 73 dead. These are bodies that we have found along the shores of the lake," Dominic Lutula, president of the Congolese Red Cross told the Reuters news agency.

"There are still some people missing. But we don't know how many because there was no ship's manifest," he said.

Bodies had been found on the shores of Lake Mai Ndombe.

'People missing'

The boat had been transporting logs on Lake Mai Ndombe in Bandundu province, the United Nations-sponsored Radio Okapi said.

Radio Okapi said the boat, owned by a logging company called Sodefor, sank at around 8:00pm (19:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

Despite its vast mineral wealth, roads are almost non-existent outside Congo's main towns.

Travel is often limited to aircraft and the boats that ply its huge network of rivers.

Accidents are frequent due to overloading, lack of maintenance, and lax enforcement of safety standards.

At least 14 people died in September after their boat sank on an isolated stretch of the Lualaba river in the southern province of Katanga.

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