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At least 13 people drowned when a passenger ferry sank on Monday on Lake Kivu in Rwanda's southwestern Province of Kibuye, police spokesman Damas Gatare told IRIN.
"We have confirmed it," he said on Tuesday.
He said four bodies had been recovered and that the search continued for the rest. A provincial official, who did not want to be named, told IRIN that the ferry, carrying 36 passengers and merchandise, was overloaded and battered by strong waves. It capsized on Monday near the town of Kibuye.
"The ferry was carrying more than it could hold," the official said.
The state-owned national radio reported that Rwandan military speedboats had rescued 23 people.
Lake Kivu spans the Congo and Rwanda border. In March 2002, another ferry capsized in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo killing 23 people. Ferries are a popular form of transport in the area because they are cheap, but several have sunk in recent years due to overloading or bad weather.
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