United News of Bangladesh

  Two separate boat accidents in northwestern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) this week have left at least 193 people dead and dozens more missing, authorities and state media said Friday. The tragedies occurred on Wednesday and Thursday, about 150 kilometers apart in Equateur province. On Thursday evening, a whaleboat carrying nearly 500 passengers caught fire and capsized along the Congo River in Lukolela territory, killing 107 people, according to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. At least 209 survivors were rescued near the village of Malange, while a memo from the Ministry of Social Affairs said 146 others were still missing. A day earlier, another motorized boat capsized in Basankusu territory, claiming the lives of at least 86 people, most of them students, state media reported. Several others remain unaccounted for, though no official figure was given. The cause of the accidents was not immediately clear. State media, citing reports from the scene, blamed Wednesday’s disaster on “improper loading and night navigation.” Photos from the area showed villagers mourning beside recovered bodies. A local civil society group accused the government of negligence and claimed the toll was even higher. Search operations were launched after the accidents, with naval personnel and community volunteers combing the riverbanks. Authorities pledged medical treatment for the injured, assistance to bereaved families, and the repatriation of survivors. River transport remains a lifeline in the DRC’s vast rainforest regions, where wooden vessels serve as the primary mode of travel between remote villages. The boats are often poorly maintained, overloaded with passengers and goods, and travel without life jackets, making accidents frequent and deadly. Night navigation adds further risk, often complicating rescue efforts and leaving many victims unaccounted for. Limited resources and the remoteness of accident sites also hamper search and recovery operations. Source: AL Zazeera    

The death toll from the boat capsize in the Karatoya river of Panchagarh rose to 64 on Tuesday, with the recovery of nine more bodies Tuesday morning. Two of the bodies were fished out of the Atrai river in Birganj upazila of Dinajpur and two from Debiganj upazila in Panchagarh, while the remaining were recovered from the area of the tragedy, said Dipankar Roy, additional district magistrate. Also read: Death toll from sinking of Karatoa boat rises to 55 Among the deceased, 28 were women, 18 children and 15 men while gender of three more bodies could not be known yet, said SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police. Rescue operations resumed 7am and "efforts are on to trace 20 more missing passengers", he said. Earlier, SM Sirajul Huda, superintendent of Panchagarh Police, said they had received a list of 40 missing people from their relatives. Railways Minister Nurul Islam Sujan visited the spot and announced that each of the deceased family will get Tk 20,00 from the government and Tk 25,000 from the Ministry of Religious affairs for funeral. Meanwhile, a five-member probe body, headed by additional DM Roy, was formed to investigate the incident and it was asked to submit its report today, said Md Zahurul Islam, deputy commissioner of Panchagarh. On Sunday, the overloaded passenger boat carrying around 80 people, mostly Hindu devotees, sank in the middle of the river while heading towards Badheshwar Temple on the occasion of Mahalaya at 2.30pm. Also read: 15 die as boat sinks in Karatoya River in Panchagarh; 25 go missing Some 25 bodies were recovered from the river on that day only, while many others managed to swim ashore. This is the worst waterways accident the country witnessed after the devastating fire incident in a Barguna-bound launch off the coast of Jhalakathi on December 24 last year that left 50 people dead.