100 feared dead in Congo ferry disaster

More than 100 people are feared dead after an overloaded ferry sank in eastern Congo’s Lake Tanganyika, a rebel official said today.

The MV Kashombwe capsized late on Saturday after it ran into a storm between Kalemie and Uvira, 185 miles to the north.

Emil Ngoy of the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), which controls the lakeside ports, said at least 41 people had been rescued.

The ferry, which had a capacity of less than 100 passengers, “was sailing in Burundian waters to avoid the Mayi Mayi (tribal fighters) who are active near the Congolese shores,” said Ngoy in Goma, 120 miles north of Uvira.

The Mayi Mayi fighters are allied to the Congolese government in the four-and-a-half-year civil war that has split the country into rebel and government territories.

The RCD – one of the main rebel factions fighting the government – controls much of eastern Congo.

Ferries are the most common and cheapest means of transport between lakeside towns in a country where the infrastructure has been destroyed by a succession of armed rebellions and neglect by corrupt and greedy leaders.