DRC: Whaling boat fire in Equateur province leaves many dead

A river drama on the Congo River

On Tuesday, April 15, 2025, a whaling boat carrying several hundred passengers caught fire off the coast of Mbandaka , in the Equateur province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) .
The boat, which had left the port of Bankita and was heading for Bolomba, sank after the fire. The human toll was extremely high: according to civil society, at least 148 people lost their lives, and many more are missing.

Relief efforts mobilized but a difficult context

Missing onboard manifest complicates operations

The absence of the ship’s manifest makes it difficult to accurately assess the number of passengers and victims. Congolese Red Cross
teams are on site to provide assistance to the injured and their families. Several bodies were quickly buried, while some survivors suffered severe burns.

Negligence pointed out

According to civil society, the fire was caused by the presence of fuel stored on board , in flagrant violation of river safety regulations.

A context of repeated river accidents

A previous dramatic shipwreck

This tragedy comes as a delegation of national deputies is currently on a mission to the province to investigate frequent river accidents.
The day before, on April 16, the elected officials visited the site of another shipwreck, involving the whaler HB Jados , which sank a week earlier about forty kilometers south of Mbandaka.
Here again, the death toll varies: more than 50 dead according to the authorities, 156 dead including 87 children according to civil society, despite the existence of about a hundred survivors.

Civil society calls for sanctions

Faced with the repetition of these tragedies, voices are being raised to demand strong measures from Kinshasa, notably the suspension of the river commissioner deemed responsible for culpable laxity in matters of security.

Conclusion

The latest tragedy in Mbandaka once again illustrates the recurring tragedy of river transport in the DRC , where overloaded boats and failure to comply with safety regulations continue to cause massacres. As the search for the missing continues, pressure is mounting on the authorities to undertake urgent reforms and put an end to deadly insecurity on the country’s waterways.