50 Dead in Congo shipwreck

At least 50 people drowned and some 35 are reported missing after a boat accident on a river in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Equateur province government said Friday. The vessel, which was wrecked late Wednesday, was carrying at least 200 passengers and "up to yesterday (Thursday) we counted 115 survivors and 50 bodies fished from the water with difficulty," the government spokesman told to media. "The others are certainly lost or were dragged down by the water." The large motorised barge, which was also carrying goods, collided during the night with another boat, which was empty, on the Tshuapa river, 115 kilometres east of the provincial capital Mbandaka. Accidents are also caused by the bad or absent signposting of waterways, the inexperience of pilots and the lack of lights on boats. Many vessels carry no lifebelts or lifejackets.