DR Congo boat sinking 'kills 140'
Like most of DR Congo, Bandundu province has very few roads
Up to 140 people are feared dead after a boat carrying passengers and goods capsized on a river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials say.
The accident happened on the Kasai river - a tributary of the Congo River - in the western province of Bandundu.
Information Minister Lambert Mende told the BBC the boat had been overloaded and 80 people had been confirmed dead.
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After decades of conflict, DR Congo has few roads or rail links and many people travel on often overloaded vessels.
The latest accident occurred on Wednesday.
Mr Mende told the BBC the river level had been low and the accident occurred when the overcrowded boat hit a mud bank.
It was travelling to the capital Kinshasa from Mushie, about 30km (20 miles) from the town of Bandundu, AFP news agency reports.
Last November at least 73 people died when a boat sank on Lake Mai-Ndombe, also in Bandundu province.
DR Congo - a country the size of western Europe - has only a few hundred kilometres of paved roads outside the cities.
As many as 140 people are feared dead after a boat sank on the , a tributary of the , in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The central African country, of equivalent size to western Europe, has very poor road infrastructure, meaning that many people travel on boats, which are often overloaded. The boat involved in the accident was travelling to the capital city, , from the town of . The accident occurred in the province of , approximately 30 km (20 miles) from the provincial capital, where officials reportedly held a crisis meeting to deal with the incident.

The boat is believed to have been overweight, carrying at least 180 passengers as well as goods.  It is the dry season in the Congo, so the river is shallow.  The sinking was reportedly the result of hitting a mud bank, causing the vessel to capsize. 

Lambert Mende, the Congolese information minister, said in a statement that at least 80 people had been confirmed dead while 76 were thought to have survived. However, the local police later announced a provisional death toll of 138, and possibly more.

Safety standards are poor in the Democratic Republic, with overcrowding common on boats, which often do not carry lifejackets and are forced to navigate poorly marked waterways, meaning that fatal accidents are not uncommon in the country.