Kinshasa, 4 Apr. At least six lifeless bodies were found while eighty people were rescued after the shipwreck last Sunday night of a large motorized canoe on Lake Kivu, the natural border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, local authorities confirmed today. .
“According to the information we have, it was because of the waves and the whirlwinds that the boat capsized. We have already identified eighty survivors,” Moustapha Mamboleo, administrator of the island of Idjwi, in the province of South Kivu, told local media on Tuesday. , east of the DRC.
“This Monday, we recovered and buried six bodies, including three women, two girls and a boy,” added the leader, detailing that the boat was carrying around 150 passengers when the accident took place.
Apparently, the boat left the town of Mugote, in the southeast of the island, in the direction of Goma, capital of the neighboring province of North Kivu, on the northern shore of the lake, which belongs to the great lakes of Africa, located in the Rift Valley.
According to Mamboleo, the death toll could rise as search and rescue operations continue.
The sinking of ships is frequent in the DRC because the rivers and lakes are used daily as a means of transport, despite the fact that the precarious ships usually travel heavily loaded and the signaling is almost non-existent. EFE
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