50 killed as boat capsizes after fire in northwestern Congo

A boat capsized after a fire broke out in the northwestern DRC region of Congo, killing at least 50 people and leaving hundreds missing.

According to a report by the Qatari Broadcasting Corporation, rescue teams are searching for the missing after the accident that occurred last night in the Congo River with the help of the Red Cross and provincial authorities.

Local authorities took immediate action and rescued dozens of people, but many of their bodies were severely burned.

The river commissioner in Congo, Kabila Loyoko, said that the wooden boat carrying about 400 passengers caught fire near the town of Mbandaka, as it was sailing from the port of Matankomou to the Bolamba region.

Loyoko said that the incident occurred while a woman was cooking on the boat.

Several passengers, including women and children, died after jumping into the water because they did not know how to swim. About 100 survivors were taken to a makeshift shelter at Mbandaka town hall, most of them badly burned.

Al Jazeera's Alan Yuakani, reporting from Goma, said that fatal boat accidents are common in the central African country, with rescue teams often inexperienced and ill-equipped to deal with emergencies.

Hundreds of people have died in boat accidents in recent years, most of them leaving the roads available for wooden boats laden with passengers and their belongings.

A boat carrying more than 400 people capsized in a river in northeastern DRC on Christmas Eve in December, killing at least 38 people.

In October, a boat capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern DRC, killing 78 people.