As many as 150 people are missing after a passenger boat sank on Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, President Felix Tshisekedi said.
The disaster happened Monday evening, but details of the incident were only just emerging Wednesday.
President Tshisekedi said he was “very saddened” by the news and extended his condolences to the families of the missing.
“I am very saddened by the shipwreck of a pirogue on (Monday) April 15 on Lake Kivu. The provisional toll is 150 people missing,” Tshisekedi said on his official Twitter account.
Vital Muhini, national Deputy from South Kivu province told CNN on Wednesday that 37 people have been rescued so far and three bodies were recovered from the site of the sinking.
Muhini said the overloaded boat departed from the port of Kituku in Goma in eastern Congo when it capsized into the lake in South Kivu province.
Early investigations into the disaster revealed that passengers were not wearing life jackets and a passenger manifest was not available to account for the total number of people on board the boat, Muhini said.
– CNN
