At least 22 people have died after two boats collided on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), sending a passenger vessel to the riverbed and leaving many others unaccounted for.
The accident occurred in the early hours of Saturday, 3 October, near Ngombe in the Lukolela area of Western Equateur Province. Provincial Interior Minister Crispin Mputu confirmed the incident, saying rescue teams were continuing efforts to locate passengers believed to be missing after the collision.
According to Reuters, the passenger boat was carrying 163 people when it collided with a commercial vessel travelling between the capital, Kinshasa, and Mbandaka. The passenger boat was travelling from neighbouring Mongala Province towards Kinshasa when the two vessels struck each other head-on.
The force of the collision caused the passenger vessel to sink. Authorities said the boat is now lying at a depth of about 12 metres beneath the surface of the Congo River, complicating efforts to establish the full scale of the disaster and recover those still missing.
By the time of the latest update, 22 bodies had been recovered from the river and buried, while 59 people had been rescued alive. The figures indicate that a substantial number of passengers remain unaccounted for. Officials have also cautioned that the confirmed death toll may not reflect the full number of fatalities.
Mputu said some victims may have been recovered by relatives and buried elsewhere, meaning their deaths might not yet have been included in the official figures. This could make it difficult for authorities to establish an accurate passenger and casualty count until the rescue operation and verification process are completed.
The search operation was still under way as of Monday evening, 5 October. Rescue teams were working in and around the area where the passenger boat sank, while authorities continued efforts to determine the whereabouts of those who remain missing.
The Congo River is a major transport route in the DRC, particularly for communities and regions where road connections are limited. Boats play a significant role in moving passengers and goods across the country’s extensive river network. As a result, serious accidents on the river can have a considerable human impact, particularly when passenger numbers are high.
The latest collision has once again highlighted the dangers associated with river transport in a country where waterways remain an important means of travel. However, the authorities have not yet established the precise circumstances that led to the two boats colliding. No definitive explanation has been given for why the vessels came into each other’s path.
With the passenger boat still submerged, the recovery operation remains central to determining the final toll. The number of survivors, recovered bodies and missing passengers may also be revised as authorities gather information from survivors and relatives.
For families waiting for news of missing passengers, the continuing search remains the only hope of establishing what happened to their loved ones. The final scale of the tragedy is therefore expected to become clearer once rescue efforts and the identification of victims are completed.
