Overview

• Local authorities report two separate sinkings within days, leaving dozens unaccounted for as search operations continue.
• In Lukolela, a vessel carrying nearly 500 people caught fire and capsized, with 107 confirmed dead, about 146 missing, and 209 survivors rescued.
• A day earlier in Basankusu on the Ndolo River, at least 86 people died, most of them students, with eight survivors reported.
• Prime Minister Judith Suminwa ordered a mobilization to assist victims and investigate the incidents, with an official death toll expected soon.
• State media and civil-society groups cite chronic safety failures including overloading, night travel, scarce lifejackets, and weak enforcement, while formal probes proceed.