Sunday, October 06, 2024 - The moment a ferry capsized, killing scores of passengers, was caught on video.
At least 78 people drowned when the boat carrying 278
passengers capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on
Thursday, October 3, a provincial governor said.
Relatives sobbed on shore as victims were placed in body
bags and carried away, a witness said.
Video shared online show a packed multi-deck vessel bending
sideways in calm waters before it overturned and threw flailing passengers into
the lake.
The governor of South Kivu province, said the death toll was
78 and that 278 had been on board.
"It'll take at least three days to get the exact
numbers, because not all the bodies have been found yet," Governor Jean
Jacques Purisi told Reuters.
The governor of neighbouring North Kivu province said 58 people
had survived the accident.
The boat capsized around 700 metres from port and the causes
of the accident are being investigated, he said in a statement.
At a local hospital, one survivor said conditions were calm
when the crowded boat overturned. As others drowned around him, he struggled to
stay afloat until he was rescued by Congolese troops.
"I saw people sinking, many went under. I saw women and
children sinking in the water, and I myself was on the verge of drowning, but
God helped me," said 51-year-old Alfani Buroko Byamungu from his hospital
bed.
Crowds gathered at the port in Goma where the vessel was
meant to dock.
Some wiped tears from their eyes or wept on the ground,
while others shouted angrily, blaming the authorities for allowing a
long-running rebel conflict to cut off roads, which they said had led to more
overcrowding on boats.
"All of this is part of the consequences of the war ...
They no longer make an effort to clear the enemies off the road so that it can
become operational again," shouted Mushagulua Bienfait, a Goma resident
who lost three relatives in the accident.
Watch video below.
A boat capsizes in Lake Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, as it sailed from Minova to Goma. pic.twitter.com/7kdupvRhwN
— Cyprian, Is Nyakundi (@C_NyaKundiH) October 3, 2024
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