February 15th, local time, Steve Mbiqai, Minister of Humanitarian Action and National Unity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, posted on social media that on the night of the 14th, a passenger shipwrecked in the Congo River Basin in Mayan Dombe Province while driving from the capital Kinshasa to Equator Province.
By the morning of the 17th, the number of deaths rose to 76.
At the time of the accident, there were about 700 people on board the ship.
Search and rescue teams rescued about 300 people and recovered the bodies of 60 victims.
Mbikaj said that the shipwreck may be caused by overloading cargo personnel and night navigation, and the ship should not be equipped with life jackets as required.
On the evening of the 16th, the search and rescue team once again recovered the remains of 16 victims, and the whereabouts of more than 300 people are still unknown. According to the search and rescue team, due to the lack of heavy equipment, the current search and rescue work is difficult.
The territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo is 2.3 million square kilometers and vast.
Due to the poor infrastructure construction in many areas, there are few roads to pass through.
Therefore, the local residents often rely on waterways on rivers or lakes to pass between places.
In these waters, due to the aging and overload of ships, shipwreck accidents often occur, causing heavy casualties.
