Authorities in western Democratic Republic of Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don't include all those aboard. </s> KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don’t include all those aboard. </s> KINSHASA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don't include all those aboard. </s> Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don't include all those aboard. </s> (AP) — Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don’t include all those aboard. </s> KINSHASA, Congo — Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don’t include all those aboard.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 people are dead and another 200 are missing after a boat sank on a lake.

Simon Mboo Wemba, the mayor of Inongo, told The Associated Press on Sunday night that many of those aboard the boat that sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe were teachers.

The mayor says they had traveled to collect their salaries by boat because roads in the region are so poor.

It was not immediately known how many people were aboard the boat when it hit bad weather late Saturday.

But officials estimate several hundred were on board. More than 80 people survived.

Boats in the vast nation of Congo are usually overloaded with passengers and cargo, and official manifests don't include all those aboard.

© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. </s> Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 dead, another 200 missing after boat sinks on a lake

KINSHASHA, Congo (AP) — Authorities in western Congo say at least 30 dead, another 200 missing after boat sinks on a lake. </s> KAMPALA, Uganda - In a tragic incident, at least 29 people were killed after an overcrowded cruise boat from Uganda capsized on Lake Victoria, near the country's capital of Kampala.

The ferry was carrying 100 party revellers, when it sank in Lake Victoria, which is not only Africa's largest lake but also the world's largest tropical lake.

In the incident that occurred off Uganda's Mukono district on Saturday, at least 29 people were killed, and 27 others were rescued from the lake.

A senior police officer, Zurah Ganyana said that the boat overturned and sank about 7 pm Saturday.

According to local officials, two small fishing boats rushed to rescue those on the sinking party boat but soon became overloaded and sank too.

The Ugandan police said that the party boat was carrying close to 100 people when it sank.

In a statement, Patrick Onyango, the Deputy police spokesman said, "The boat was overloaded and secondly there was bad weather."

Onyango confirmed that the vessel had encountered rough conditions at the time of the accident and added, "Our rescue team is still on the ground trying to rescue whoever we can find."

However, despite search and rescue operations being launched following the incident and continuing on Sunday, the police said that an unknown number of people still remained missing.

Police officer Ganyana also noted that the boat did not have a valid license to operate.

She added that the vessel had been in poor condition and had been grounded for some time.

Adding that the couple that owned the boat were believed to be among the victims.

According to the local media in Uganda, there were several well-known people including artists and socialites on the boat, including a famous musician and the prince of a traditional kingdom.

On Sunday, the media confirmed that Prince Daudi Kintu Wasajja, a brother of King Ronald Mutebi of Uganda's largest traditional kingdom, Buganda had been rescued from the water.

Even the musician Iryn Namubiru survived from the vessel.

Reports noted that the boat that capsized is hired out for weekend parties and many that were aboard the vessel had no lifejackets.

On Sunday, Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni said that the cruise boat was carrying 120 people - which was more than twice its capacity of 50, when it capsized.

The President fumed on Twitter, “The operators of this boat will be charged with criminal negligence and manslaughter, if they have not already been punished for their mistake by dying in the accident."

He added that there was a party going on aboard the boat, with loud music, at the time of the accident.

Adding, “They might not have heard the emergency commands of the captain, who is still unaccounted for."

Meanwhile, Asuman Mugenyi, the national director of police operations said that one of the reasons many people died so close to shore, was likely because of “intoxication."

The police chief also cited details revealed by some of the survivors, who said that there had been a good number of life jackets aboard the doomed vessel, but that passengers did not wear them.

He added that the boat’s passengers most likely panicked when the vessel started to sink.

The police said later on Sunday that marine teams were "doing whatever they can to find more bodies."

Yet, Lake Victoria witnesses accident regularly and often overcrowded vessels are blamed for the tragic incidents.

Most recently, in September, over 200 people died after an overloaded ferry sank in the lake, off Tanzania.

One of the worst ferry disasters of the last century and Tanzania's deadliest maritime incident in recent decades took place in May 1996.

Up to 1,000 people aboard MV Bukoba were killed after the ferry, that was heading to Mwanza, capsized on Lake Victoria.
A boat sinking on Lake Mai-Ndombe in western Democratic Republic of the Congo kills at least 45 people with 200 passengers still missing. The vessel was carrying more than 400 people, the majority of whom were teachers going to collect their salaries.