At least three have died after a boat sank on lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Some survivors

According to a local official, two children and a woman were those who died as the boat sank on the night of Tuesday, breaking Wednesday.

The regional government spokesman, Claude Basili in a statement on Wednesday said the boat, bound for the regional capital Goma, capsized after having set off in the dark was overloaded and from an illegal mooring.

One of the survivors, Daniel Mutukura, outlined the series of unfortunate events. “I was in the pirogue that capsized and what happened was around 7 pm when we left Luhhihi, when we arrived in Nyabirehe towards Mushenyi the boat started to capsize, there was a strong wave and it was raining, we missed where to go, the captain lost direction and we were very overloaded and the boat lost its balance.”

Twenty persons went missing overnight while at least fifty persons have been rescued.

By Sandrine M.