On Friday, a boat referred to as a "whaler" sank on the Congo River, resulting in a tragic incident. The Minister of Transport of the Democratic Republic of Congo revealed on Monday evening that the incident had claimed the lives of at least 47 people, with an unknown number of individuals still missing.

The initial report provided on Sunday by the authorities of the Equateur province in the northwest had indicated at least 28 fatalities and numerous individuals unaccounted for.

During a press briefing held in the early hours of Monday afternoon, Minister of Transport Marc Ekila, along with the government's spokesperson Patrick Muyaya, shared information obtained from the river commissioner on-site, stating, "We have recovered 47 bodies."

“As the boat was in an irregular situation, we were unable to have the manifest to determine exactly the number of passengers who were on board,” he added.

The minister said that "overloading" was to blame for the incident and noted that "wooden boats" were not permitted to travel at night.

The "whaler" capsized overnight on Friday into Saturday as it was sailing from Mbandaka to the region of Bolomba in the province of Équateur.

“We have asked the provincial authorities to set up a commission of inquiry,” added the Minister of Transport.

Waterway

The Democratic Republic of Congo is a sizable country in Central Africa, yet it has relatively few highways that may be used for transportation. Instead, people frequently travel on lakes, the Congo River, and its tributaries.

There, shipwrecks are frequent and frequently expensive.

President Félix Tshisekedi requested that the government "do everything possible to avoid shipwrecks (…) the main causes of which are in particular the overload of passengers and goods, the poor marking of waterways, night navigation, as well as non-compliance of boats with regulations," according to the report of Friday's council of ministers.

According to him, "an action plan" is needed so that the Congo River plays a "driving role in economic development" as a waterway.

Félix Tshisekedi, who has been in office since early 2019, is running for re-election in December.