No fewer than 41 passengers have died following a tragic boat incident leaving residents in a DR Congo community in grief.
The vessel conveying 100 passengers was said to have capsized, titling to one side, after which distress calls were made to emergency rescuers who made rescue of 49 of the passengers.
The incident occurred on Lake Tanganyika in Mapera after travelling from the port of Kigoma in Tanzania to Kalemie in the DRC, as disclosed by a survivor, Annie Moyono.
Moyono recalled that passengers were awakened at about 1 a.m. after they noticed that the boat was tilting to one side, adding that the situation quickly worsened as the vessel began to take on water before eventually sinking.
The authorities held that the survivors were taken to safety, while the cause of the accident has not been established but investigations are ongoing to unravel the circumstances surrounding the capsizing.