According to the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and Sky News, the events on Wednesday, September 10, and Thursday, September 11, took place around 150 miles apart in the Equateur region of Congo.According to local official media, the first watercraft accident included a motorized boat that capsized near the Basankusu region of the province, killing at least 86 individuals, many of whom were students. We don't know how many folks are still missing.
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According to the AP, state media said the boat accident was caused by "improper loading and night navigation." According to the Trident Marine Group, this suggests that the boat may have been carrying too much weight or the weight may not have been equally spread out.
The group, Boat Ed, says that this suggests the boat may not have used the right tactics for navigating at night when visibility was low.
But AP and Al Jazeera say that a local civil society organization blamed the government for the boating accident on Wednesday and said that the death toll was significantly greater than what the government first said.
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The next day, in the evening, a whaleboat caught fire and flipped over in the province's Lukolela area, according to the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, and Sky News, who cited Congo's humanitarian affairs ministry.
According to government sources, Sky News said that 107 people perished in this event, 209 people were rescued, and 146 people were still missing.
This picture, which was shot on February 8, 2021, shows the Congo River from above on the fringes of Mbandaka, Equateur Province, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
AP said that boat capsizing happens a lot in Congo because the boats that take people from different communities along the Congo River are not well maintained and are sometimes overcrowded.
Deutsche Welle says that a lot of these boat excursions also place at night, which makes navigation harder and makes it harder for rescuers to see what's going on.