At least 50 people are confirmed dead while several others have gone missing after a river boat caught fire and capsized in the northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Tuesday, April 15.
The wooden vessel reportedly had more than 400 embarked passengers when a blaze ignited on board while it was underway on the Congo River near the town of Mbandaka in the late evening (local time) of Tuesday.
Several passengers jumped into the river to escape the flames. Tragically, however, many individuals drowned and were later recovered deceased from the surrounding waters.
At least 100 other people suffered burn injuries from the incident and were later treated in Mbandaka.
The local Red Cross and partner agencies are continuing their search for any traces of the boat's occupants who are still missing.
Tuesday's capsizing is the latest in a series of fatal passenger vessel mishaps to occur in the DRC since 2024. Verified reports have revealed that the country had the highest number of fatalities from passenger vessel incidents during the previous year, with 950 known deaths from only eleven recorded incidents.
Only three countries – the DRC, Nigeria, and Mozambique – accounted for 72 per cent of the global death toll from passenger vessel incidents in 2024, as shown in data collected by ferry safety advocate and Baird Maritime co-founder Dr Neil Baird.