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Some 110 feared dead in ferry disaster

Map of Tanzania IRIN
    BUJUMBURA

    At least 110 people are thought to have drowned when a passenger ferry sank in Lake Tanganyika, off the shores of southern Burundi, on Saturday.

    The administrator of Uvira in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Majaliwa Mufumbe, told IRIN on Monday that the boat was travelling from the port of Kalemie to Kalundu port in Uvira (both in eastern DRC), via Lake Nyanza in southern Burundi, when it capsized in strong winds.

    “It was overloaded,” he said.

    At least 110 passengers were missing, believed drowned, he said, but Burundian marine officers had rescued 39 people.

    Congolese rebel-controlled RTNC radio in Goma, eastern DRC, reported on Monday that 41 people survived the accident. The radio also attributed the disaster to a combination of overloading and bad weather.

    The radio added that a delegation from the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie, the Rwandan-backed movement controlling Goma, was investigating the incident and oversee burial of the dead.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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