Capsized boat carrying four times list

Relevant offers

Africa

Bungled conservation effort kills Sth African rhino Libyan refugees killed in camp Egypt to try 19 Americans in case straining ties Catching malaria comes with the job Four more dead in ongoing Egypt violence Police shoot protesters in Suez - report Egyptians incensed after 74 die in football tragedy Gaddafi daughter's appeal on jailed brother rejected South Africa recalls 1.35 million condoms Americans take refuge at Cairo embassy

A Congolese official says a capsized boat that killed as many as 200 people was carrying four times as many people as the passenger list claimed.

Kasai Occidental Province Deputy Governor Hubert Mbingho says at least 153 passengers were on the boat that capsized Saturday. But he said late Monday the passenger list only had 36 names.

Survivors said "hundreds" of people were aboard. One survivor estimated 200 people drowned.

Mbingho says the boat's operators - who are in hiding - likely bribed officials to overload the boat.

Congo is a vast country with only 480 kilometres of paved road. Many people take boats even if they cannot swim. Boats are often in poor repair and overloaded with poor industry oversight.

- AP