A boat late on Wednesday tipped over in a river in northern Democratic Republic of Congo, drowning 49 people on board while about the same number survived the accident, a local official told a Congolese radio station.
Vice Governor of remote Tshuapa province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, in northern Congo, told Radio Top Congo that the whaleboat had sunk with all of its passengers.
Deadly boat accidents are common in Congo, a vast, forested country which has few roads outside of major towns and is carved up by a network of rivers that drain the Congo Basin.
For most inhabitants, these rivers are the only means of travelling over long distances.
Agency Report
