NEWS

Friday, 4 October 2024

Tragedy on lake Kivu as ferry capsizes claiming 78 lives



 
Approximately 78 people have died after a ferry capsized and sank in Lake Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, just a few hundred meters from its destination.

The ferry was traveling from the town of Minova in South Kivu and sank as it was arriving at the shores of Goma on Thursday morning.

A video circulating online shows the vessel leaning to one side before it sank.

There were 278 passengers on board, according to the provincial governor.

"It will take at least three days to get a complete count, as not all bodies have been recovered," Governor Jean Jacques Purisi told Reuters.

Local activist Aaron Ashuza, who was at the scene, told the BBC that he saw bodies being pulled from the water and that the injured have been taken to the hospital.

Approximately two children died after being taken to the hospital following the incident, according to AFP.

Speaking from his hospital bed, 51-year-old survivor Alfani Buroko Byamungu told Reuters that the water conditions appeared "calm."

He added: "I saw people drowning, many going under. I saw women and children drowning in the water, and I myself was about to sink, but God helped me.
Source:BBC
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