This archive report was first published on 10 June 2020.
Tragedy struck on Lake Albert in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 18 people lost their lives in two separate boat accidents.
According to officials, the incidents occurred overnight on June 7, 2020, in the northeastern part of the country, which shares the lake with Uganda.
"The first was a motorised pirogue which capsized around midnight, and for which there was a toll of 17 dead and one survivor," Pierre-Marie Udar, the lake commissioner for Ituri province, told AFP on June 9, 2020.
The victims were Congolese nationals living in Uganda who were traveling illegally at night after attending a funeral when their vessel encountered strong winds.
The second accident occurred near a village in Djugu territory, northeastern Ituri, resulting in one death and one survivor, Udar said.
Overloading and traveling by night are suspected to be the causes of the accidents, Udar added.
Transport by rivers and lakes is common in the DRC, a country the size of western continental Europe, but vessels are frequently poorly maintained and overladen with passengers and freight, and skippers often flout safety regulations that ban travel by night.
