106 missing in boat tragedy in Congo

The boat carrying passengers and merchandise sank on the Kasai River in Kasai-Occidental province, local resident Vickie Ndaye said Monday. The mayor of the town in south-central Congo where it happened confirmed the disaster but did not immediately offer any further details.

Another boat capsized last year on that same river, a tributary of the Congo River, leaving as many as 200 people dead. Investigators later said there were four times as many people onboard that vessel as the passenger list claimed, and that the boat operators bribed officials to allow them to overload it.

Congo suffered back-to-back civil wars beginning in the late 1990s and today has only 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) of paved roads in a country the size of Western Europe.

The Congo River is the only real highway in the vast country. Barges traverse the river like floating villages crowded with up to 2,000 people, mainly traders and their goods, from bags of sorghum to barrels of palm oil.

It can take weeks to get from the river's source in the south to Kinshasa, the capital, meandering in a scythe-like arc. The river is nearly 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) long and about 10 miles (16 kilometers) wide at some points.

Authorities said at least 72 people were missing after a boat capsized on a lake in eastern Congo a week ago. Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full version