Marie-Laure Kawanda, the transport minister for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been sacked by the government after a series of boat accidents in the country. Kawanda was dismissed after a boat sank on Monday while sailing on the Kasai River left around 100 people missing.
A spokesman for the government released a statement saying that Kawanda had failed to "ensure that regulations related to navigation are respected." Information minister Lambert Mende commented on Ms Kawanda's sacking, saying, "She should have introduced rules to prevent boats travelling at night and to stop cargo boats from carrying passengers. We don't have the exact number [of victims] but we think it is probably considerably higher than what has already been reported."
He added that the government will be paying for the funerals of the victims.
Fatal boat accidents are a common occurrence in DR Congo. On the same river where Monday's accident happened, up to 200 people died last year when a boat capsized. According to the Red Cross, 40 people died when an overcrowded boat sank on Lake Kivu last week.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.
Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.
Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.
.svg)
