49 dead after boat capsizes on Congo River tributary

KINSHASA, Congo – Congolese officials say at least 49 people have died after a boat tipped over on the Momboyo River, a tributary of the Congo River in the country’s northwest.

The vice governor of Tshuapa province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, says the boat was taking people from Monkoto to Mbandaka city on Thursday but capsized just outside Wafania.

He tells The Associated Press that a team has been dispatched to investigate and get a more realistic death toll.

He says he doesn’t know how many people were on the boat or how many are thought to have survived.

The vice governor says the cause of the accident remains unknown.

Boats transporting people along Congo’s rivers are often overcrowded. Road infrastructure in the vast Central African nation is often poor.

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This version corrects to say the boat capsized on the Momboyo River, a tributary of the Congo River.