At least 28 people died in a shipwreck near Goma on Thursday in the province of North Kivu in eastern Congo, SOS Médias Burundi has learned. Local sources speak of more than 300 persons missing. Congolese authorities have not yet officially commented on this tragedy. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

The sinking of the boat Merdi on Lake Kivu, near the port of Kituku, district of Karisimbi, in Goma (North Kivu) occurred on Thursday. According to our sources, more than 400 passengers were on board this ship which had left the city of Minova located in the neighboring province of South Kivu, the same day.

The provisional toll was given by port sources, the provincial service in charge of rescue and witnesses. Congolese authorities have not yet officially commented on this tragedy.

« State services and humanitarian organizations are continuing their search to find other bodies, » security sources in Goma told SOS Médias Burundi. Administration sources that spoke on condition of anonymity say that as of late Thursday afternoon, at least 28 bodies had been found in the waters of Lake Kivu.

It was a few meters from the port of Kituku that the ship Merdi, full of passengers and food products, began to sink madly to the clamor of inhabitants of Goma who had come to wait for their loved ones on board the damaged boat.

« In any case, there are several losses of human life. There are a few survivors that we are taking to the hospital. Until now, it is difficult to see the said boat. It is really horrible, » said Jules Ngeleza, a young man from Goma met at the scene of the tragedy.

The few witnesses of the shipwreck claim that it was from behind that the boat began to sink before sinking. One of the eyewitnesses recounts : « it was this imbalance that would have precipitated and sunk the boat into the deep waters of the lake ».

« It was too far away, more than 200 meters. I saw that it was starting to sink into the water and then the whole part of the boat disappeared suddenly », testified another resident of Goma who had come to welcome a member of his family who was traveling on board the boat that sank.

Unfortunate passengers who were screaming for help and trying to save themselves without success, climbed onto the roof of the ship.

For the moment, it is difficult to determine the number of dead and missing. In the meantime, the vice-governor of the province of North Kivu, Divisional Commissioner Ekuka Lipopo, visited various morgues that received bodies of the victims of the shipwreck.

Accompanied by Prisca Kamala, advisor to the governor in charge of humanitarian actions, the police officer also visited survivors in the emergency room of the provincial hospital of North Kivu.

The provincial service in charge of relief indicated late Thursday afternoon that it had recorded 28 dead, including 6 women. At least 52 survivors were counted.

The port of Kituku, which supplies the city of Goma with food products from Minova, is not monitored by any adequate provision for river traffic.
Since the occupation of the locality of Shasha by M23 rebels, the population of Minova has been passing through Lake Kivu to reach the city of Goma.