25 dead in DR Congo river boat tragedy

Twenty-five people were killed after a boat ferrying passengers capsized in Maï-Ndombe province in the southwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo on Sunday, March 9.

The tragedy occurred in the evening (local time) of Sunday on the Kwa River near the city of Mushie.

Provincial officials confirmed that 30 other people who were also on the boat were safely rescued. However, the exact number of passengers at the time of the incident remains unknown.

The 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.

The DRC had recorded 950 known fatalities from only eleven recorded incidents in 2024.

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.