Hope Abandoned for 100 on Congo Ferry

Congolese officials Friday gave up hope of rescuing any of the victims--believed to number as many as 100--still trapped aboard a capsized ferry.

Divers have recovered fewer than 20 bodies since the Thursday evening disaster in the harbor of the lakeside town of Goma in eastern Congo.

The victims were caught aboard the ferry Musaka when it capsized in Lake Kivu in Central Africa’s Great Lakes region.

Bereaved relatives among thousands of onlookers on hillsides overlooking the harbor screamed with grief each time divers or Red Cross workers brought a body ashore.

“I am filled with regret. The accident was avoidable if sufficient controls were in place,” said real estate agent Jess Ngunza, who had relatives aboard the vessel.

“Up to 100 people may have died,” said Jean-Pierre Kisanga, spokesman for the Rwandan-backed Congolese Rally for Democracy, a rebel movement that controls much of eastern Congo.

Rescue workers using trucks and chains hauled the wreck into shallower water, allowing work to begin on cutting out bodies trapped in a section of the hull visible above the surface.

Shoes and sandals bobbed in the lake, while downpours drenched rescue workers and relatives.

Officials decided to call for help from United Nations peacekeeping forces after two cranes brought in to try to lift the vessel proved too weak.

Goma Mayor Francois Xavier Nzabata Maseka told reporters that the ferry was heavily laden with cargo. “We cannot know how many people are trapped inside,” Nzabata Maseka said.

The vessel capsized after passengers and people who had come to see them off rushed aboard to take shelter when it started to rain heavily.