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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 4 OctOber 2024
At least 78 people died when a boat with 278 on board capsized

in eastern Congo, official says

By RUTH ALONGA, JEAN- visibly overcrowded.
YVES KAMALE and MONIKA “I was at the port of Kituku
PRONCZUK when I saw the boat arriv-
Associated Press ing from Minova, full of pas-
GOMA, Congo (AP) — At sengers,” Francine Munyi
least 78 people died when told the AP. “It started to
an overcrowded boat lose its balance and sank
capsized on Lake Kivu in into the lake. Some people
eastern Congo on Thurs- threw themselves into the
day, a local governor said. water.”
A frantic search and res- “Many died, and few
cue operation was under- were saved,” she added.
way hours later as many “I couldn’t help them be-
remained unaccounted for cause I don’t know how to
from the vessel, believed to swim.”
have had 278 people on The victims’ families and
board. Goma residents gathered
Jean-Jacques Purusi, the at the port of Kituku, ac-
governor of the South Kivu cusing authorities of negli-
province, said the death gence in the face of grow-
toll was provisional and ing insecurity in the region.
that the number of fatali- Since the fighting between
ties could rise further. He the armed forces and
said that according to the People gather at the port of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, after a ferry carrying hundreds the M23 rebels made the
capsized on arrival Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024.
information that local au- Associated Press road between the cities of
thorities had, there were Goma and Minova impass-
278 people on board. ku, according to witnesses portation. But in remote ar- tributed to the tragedy, as able, forcing the closure of
The boat set off from the who said they saw rescue eas where most passengers did the overcrowding and the passage to trucks trans-
port of Minova, in South services recover at least 50 come from, many are un- negligence. Also, there porting food, many traders
Kivu province, earlier in the bodies from the water. able to afford public trans- had been a strong storm in have resorted to maritime
day and was en route to It was the latest deadly port for the few available the morning in the area of transport on Lake Kivu. It’s
Goma, in North Kivu prov- boat accident in the cen- roads. the lake, he added. an alternative considered
ince, Purusi said, speaking tral African country, where “We will establish responsi- In June, an overloaded safer than road traffic,
over the phone. overcrowding on vessels is bilities and put in place a boat sank near the capital which is threatened by in-
“We do not yet have (the often to blame. Maritime sanctions regime but also of Kinshasa and 80 passen- security.
full picture of) the whole regulations also are often recommendations to im- gers lost their lives. In Janu- But according to Elia
situation but we will have it not followed. prove navigation on the ary, 22 people died on Lake Asumani, a shipping agent
by tomorrow,” he told The Congolese officials have lake,” Purusi told the AP. Maî-Ndombe and in April who works on this line, the
Associated Press. often warned against over- He added that a lack of 2023, six were killed and 64 situation has become dan-
The boat sank while trying loading and vowed to pun- adequate equipment went missing on Lake Kivu. gerous:
to dock just meters (yards) ish those violating safety there were no life jackets Witnesses of the Thursday “We are afraid,” he told
away from the port of Kitu- measures for water trans- on the vessel likely con- tragedy said the boat was the AP. q

Dominican Republic will deport up to 10,000 Haitians a week,

citing an ‘excess’ of immigrants

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Repub- Activists have long criticized the adminis-
lic (AP) — The Dominican Republic an- tration of President Luis Abinader for what
nounced Wednesday that it would start they say are ongoing human rights viola-
massive deportations of Haitians living ille- tions of Haitians and those of Haitian de-
gally in the country, expelling up to 10,000 scent born in the Dominican Republic.
of them a week. Abinader has denied any mistreatment.
Government spokesman Homero Figueroa Wednesday’s announcement comes a
told reporters that the government took week after Abinader announced at the
the decision after noticing an “excess” of U.N. General Assembly that he would take
Haitian migrants in the Dominican Repub- “drastic measures” if the mission in Haiti
lic, which shares the island of Hispaniola fails. It is led by nearly 400 police officers
with Haiti. from Kenya, backed by nearly two dozen
Figueroa said officials have seen an in- police and soldiers from Jamaica and two
crease in Haitian migrants as a U.N.- senior military officers from Belize. The U.S.
backed mission in Haiti to fight gang vio- has warned that the mission lacks per-
lence flounders. He said authorities also sonnel and funding as it pushes for a U.N.
agreed to strengthen border surveillance peacekeeping mission instead.
and control, but he did not provide details. Gangs in Haiti control 80% of the Port-au-
Undocumented Haitians detained by immigration officials stand Last year, the Dominican Republic deport- Prince capital, and the violence has left
inside a police vehicle, in Dajabon, Dominican Republic, May ed more than 174,000 people it says are nearly 700,000 Haitians homeless in recent
17, 2024. Haitians, and in the first half of the year, it years, while thousands of others have fled
Associated Press has expelled at least 67,000 more. the country.q