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Boat wreck blamed on bad weather

Elias Ntungwe ( AFP, Reuters, AP)December 15, 2014

More than two hundred people have been reported missing after a boat sank in the Democratic Republic of Congo's waters on Lake Tanganyika on Thursday night. The accident has been blamed on poor weather conditions.

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Lake Tanganyika
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Frentzen

"What happened as far as we know is that the boat was in the first place overloaded. Then it unfortunately met with strong wind that suddenly wrecked it," said Prudence Pama, secretary general of the ship owners association in South Kivu, in an interview with DW.

Tanzanian authorities said the boat had been carrying some 500 passengers commuting between Katanga and South Kivu provinces in eastern Congo.

"It was carrying about 500 people and about 230 have been rescued so far," deputy Inspector General of Police Abdulrahman Kaniki is reported to have said.

The Congolese government said in a statement over national television on Sunday that it had sent a mission led by Transport Minister Kalumba Mwana Ngongo to the scene of the accident, some 90 km (55 miles) south of the town of Kalemie.

Authorities of the Ship Owners Association admit the death toll increased due to the absence of rescue speed boats.

"When we got signals, we had difficulties finding speed boats to rush to the rescue of the lives of those in the sinking boat. When we contacted the administrative authorities, they could not immediately provide one," Prudence added.

"These difficulties notwithstanding, we managed to send a boat which was slow, arriving some five hours after the accident. So the lateness of the rescue boat we dispatched was also a problem, Prudence told DW.