The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed solidarity with the Democratic Republic of the Congo following a fatal boat collision on the Congo River. In a statement carried by the Emirates News Agency, the ministry offered sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the Congolese government and its people. It further wished a speedy recovery to all those injured in the tragedy that occurred earlier this month.
The collision happened around 2 a.m. on October 4 near Ngombe in the Lukolela territory of Equateur province, according to provincial interior minister Crispin Mputu. A commercial vessel operating between Kinshasa and Mbandaka struck a passenger riverboat traveling from Mongala province to Kinshasa. The impact caused the passenger boat to sink, Reuters reported.
Mputu told Reuters that the passenger vessel was carrying 163 people when the two boats collided. Twenty-two bodies have been recovered and buried while 59 individuals were rescued, with recovery operations continuing for those still missing. The sunken vessel lies at a depth of 12 meters in the river.
Boat accidents are common in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where river transport serves as a primary means of travel and trade in many areas. Vessels are often overcrowded and poorly maintained, contributing to frequent disasters, a Reuters assessment found. Hundreds of people have lost their lives in similar incidents in recent years.
The latest collision came weeks after a boat capsized on Lake Tanganyika in September, claiming at least 41 lives, Al Jazeera reported. Another incident on Lake Kivu later that month killed at least 12 people with dozens unaccounted for. These repeated tragedies have highlighted ongoing safety concerns in the country’s maritime transport sector.
The UAE has issued similar messages of support to the DR Congo in response to previous disasters. These have included a plane crash in the southwest of the country and a fire at a wedding venue in Kinshasa, according to WAM reports. The ministry’s statements consistently emphasize sympathy for affected families and wishes for recovery.
