The Congolese government on Monday said at least 26 people had drowned in two boating disasters at the weekend while denying initial reports that hundreds of people could have perished.
Government spokesman Lambert Mende said that "24 died in a capsize" of a fishing boat due to bad
weather in Equateur province in western Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, adding that the boat was carrying up to 30 people.
Mende, who is also the government's communications minister, also reported that a cargo vessel caught fire and sank on a river in Kasai-Occidental province on Saturday and initially it was not known if there were any deaths.
But by the end today "two bodies had been recovered," Mende said, which brought the total known death toll from the two disasters to 26.
At the same time, 24 people survived the cargo ship sinking, he said.
The governor of Kasai-Occidental province, Tresor Kapuku, said that Saturday's tragedy occurred after "a fire on the boat that was transporting freight, mostly petrol."
"There were 26 survivors who were able to swim to safety," he said, citing a slightly higher number than the government spokesman.
Kapuku added that "no boat on the Kasai river (where the accident took place) can transport 200 or 300 people. They are small boats", he said.
Initial reports had said hundreds of people could have drowned.
The UN-backed Radio Okapi gave a preliminary report of 15 deaths and 60 people missing after Sunday's fishing boat capsize.
"There have only been 15 survivors while nearly 100 people were on board," the radio said, citing among others, the spokeswoman for the provincial government of Equateur, Rebecca Ebala.