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LUBUMBASHI. — At least 129 people have drowned after a boat capsized on Thursday night on Lake Tanganyika in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to an official death toll, the AFP news agency said. “Rescue workers recovered a total of 129 bodies,” an official told AFP. On Saturday, the provincial government said at least 26 people had died after the boat packed with passengers and goods capsized.
The vessel, which was travelling north from Kalemie in Katanga province to Uvira in South Kivu province, sank in the early hours of Friday, survivors speaking by telephone from Katanga’s capital Lubumbashi said.
Deadly shipwrecks are frequent on the lakes and rivers of DRC, where boats are often overloaded, life jackets frequently missing and many people cannot swim.
Lake Tanganyika is the longest freshwater lake in the world and also borders Tanzania, as well as Burundi and Zambia. — Agencies.
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