WHO: Up to 100 feared missing after boats collide on Congo River

The collision happened Thursday morning but news of the disaster is only just emerging.

Eugene Kabambi, a WHO spokesman in the country’s capital, Kinshasa, told CNN that the wreck occurred at a resort downstream of the town of Kwamouth, when an overloaded barge en route to Inongo collided with a boat carrying 150 people.

According to WHO, which was awaiting a delivery of medical supplies and body bags to the area Saturday, overloaded barges and passenger boats frequently sink in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Congo River and on the country’s lakes. This is usually owing to the age of the vessels and failure to follow rules of navigation.

CNN