193 Killed, Including Many Students, in Two Separate Boating Disasters

At least 193 people, including dozens of students, have died within the span of two days in two separate boating disasters in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The incidents on Wednesday, Sept. 10, and Thursday, Sept. 11, occurred about 150 miles from each other in the Équateur province of Congo, according to Associated Press, Al Jazeera and Sky News.

The first boating incident involved a motorized boat, which capsized near the Basankusu territory of the province, leaving at least 86 people dead — many of whom were students — according to the outlets, which cited local state media. An unknown amount of people remain missing.

State media attributed the boat incident to “improper loading and night navigation,” per AP. This means that the boat may have been overloaded beyond its weight capacity or had its weight distributed unevenly across, per the Trident Marine Group.

As for night navigation, this means that the boat may not have utilized the proper techniques when navigating with reduced visibility at night, per the group, per Boat Ed.

However, according to AP and Al Jazeera, a local civil society group blamed the government for causing Wednesday’s boating incident and claimed that the death toll was much higher than what authorities initially reported.

Photos obtained by the outlets that appeared to have been taken at the scene showed villagers gathered around deceased bodies as they mourned.

One day later, another incident occurred in the evening involving a whaleboat that caught fire and capsized near the province’s Lukolela territory, AP, Al Jazeera and Sky News said, citing Congo’s humanitarian affairs ministry.

Sky News reported, citing ministry reports, that 107 people died in this incident, while 209 survivors were rescued and 146 people were missing.

Authorities said it remained unclear what caused the boat to catch fire and overturn, per the outlets. Rescue efforts from Thursday’s incident carried over into Friday.

According to AP, boat capsizing incidents are frequent in Congo due to poorly maintained — and often overloaded — vessels that transport people from different villages down the Congo River.

According to Deutsche Welle, many of these boat rides also happen in the evening, which has its own navigation obstacles, often hindering rescue efforts due to lack of visibility.