Twenty-seven more people have been found dead from a boat accident on Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo last week, bringing the total death toll to 40, interim interior minister Basile Olongo told Reuters on Saturday.
The bodies were discovered across the border on the eastern shore of the lake in Rwanda, Olongo said.
The boat carried nearly 200 people when it capsized.
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi had declared Friday a day of mourning when 114 people were missing days after a boat capsized on Lake Kivu.
He has also decided to make it obligatory for passengers on the lake, the site of regular drownings, to wear lifebuoys, Tshisekedi’s office said in a statement.
The motorised boat, known locally as a pirogue, had left the city of Goma on Lake Kivu’s northern shore and was headed for the town of Kalehe to the west when it capsized Monday night.
There were 49 adults and seven children on board the vessel, laden with goods, according to the passenger manifest which did not list stowaways.
