200 dead, many more missing after Congo floods and landslides
- South Kivu Governor Théo Ngwabidje visited the area and posted on Twitter that the provincial government had dispatched medical, shelter and food supplies
- Democratic Republic of Congo’s President Félix Tshisekedi has declared a national day of mourning on Monday to honour the victims
The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu.
Thomas Bakenge, administrator of Kalehe, the worst-hit territory, told reporters on the scene on Saturday that 203 bodies had been recovered so far, but that efforts to find others were continuing.
In the village of Nyamukubi, where hundreds of homes were washed away, rescuers and survivors dug through the ruins on Saturday looking for more bodies in the mud.
Villagers wept as they gathered around some of the bodies recovered so far, which lay on the grass covered in muddy cloths near a rescue workers post.
Grieving survivor Anuarite Zikujuwa said she had lost her entire family, including her in-laws, as well as many of her neighbours. “The whole village has been turned into a wasteland. There’s only stones left and we can’t even tell where our land once was,” she said.
Michake Ntamana, a rescuer helping look for and bury the dead, said villagers were trying to identify and collect the bodies of loved ones found so far. He said some bodies washed down from villages higher in the hills were being buried shrouded just in leaves off the trees. “It’s truly sad because we have nothing else here,” he said.
Rivers broke their banks in villages in the territory of Kalehe, close to the shores of Lake Kivu on Thursday. Authorities have reported scores of people injured. One survivor told Associated Press the flash floods came so fast that they took everyone by surprise.