Ferryboat fire victims hospitalised

Some 301 survivors of a ferryboat fire on the River Congo were hospitalised on Monday in Mbandaka, Equateur Province, in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, humanitarian aid officials said. "As soon as they arrived 20 sick people were sent to the general hospital at the state's expense," Thérèse Mbuaya, head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Mbandaka, said. She said those being treated in the hospital were suffering from burns and fever. Some had malaria. Others not needing medical care were taken to a temporary home after receiving food rations from the Red Cross. Doctors from the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), the World Health Organization and Medecins Sans Frontieres provided care to the survivors during their voyage from Lukolela, some distance from site of the accident, to Mbandaka. A UN boat carrying some 190 kg of medicines, water, food and blankets was initially sent to the survivors. The ferry, named Convoi Lengi, left the riverside village of Makoti Mpoko, in the Republic of Congo, with some 500 passengers for Mbandaka. Survivors said there was an explosion aboard the ferry while it was some distance from the village of Lukolela, some 185 south of Mbandaka. So far, only one person has been confirmed dead and another badly injured, a MONUC spokesman, Alexandre Essome, said. Canoe owners said they saw four bodies floating in the river. However, the figures have not been verified because, the ferry owner told MONUC, there was no passenger manifest. Essome, said that the survivors swam to safety. Then, they walked to Lukolela where a rescue boat took them to Mbandaka. "The there was no way to communicate with Lukolela, either by radio or by road and the victims had to walk a long way to reach Lukolele," Essome said. The government, MONUC and other UN agencies have no further details on the 200 people missing. Essome said a fire aboard the ferry destroyed the entire vessel, 75 percent of which was made of wood. Only the iron structure remained. "A spark caused by a mechanic repairing one of the ferry's engine caused the explosion because he was working close to leaking petrol and gas oil," Essome told IRIN, recalling reports by survivors. "The fire spread rapidly causing a stampede among the passengers who dove into the river." Interior Minister Theophile Mbemba arrived in Lukolela on Monday heading a team of officials to establish the cause of the accident that occurred on 26 January. When another ferry sunk in November 2002 on Lake Mai-Ndombe, Bandundu Province, 200 people drowned. The accident was not reported until five days because the explosion on the ferry happened far from riverside villages.