Boat sinks in Congo river, 36 people missing - report

A boat has sunk in Congo river on the outskirts of Kinshasa, AFP news agency reported citing the police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As many as 36 people have gone missing as a result of the incident.

The vessel, which was traveling to the capital, went down overnight in Maluku commune, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the center of the city.

Seventy-six people survived, police wrote on Twitter. "The cause of the accident is not yet known," police spokesperson Colonel Pierrot-Rombaut Mwanamputu told AFP.

Lake and river transport is widely used in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the highway system is poor, but accidents are common, often caused by overloading and the unsafe state of vessels. The boat involved was called a "baleiniere" or "whaler" -- a commonly-used flat-bottomed vessel between 15 to 30 meters (50 to 100 feet) long by two to six meters wide.

In the vast majority of accidents, passengers are not equipped with life jackets and many cannot swim.

#BREAKING 36 people missing after ferry sinks in Congo river: DRC police pic.twitter.com/GER7ZjUCN0

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 15, 2019

Further details are awaited.

This is a developing story.