Kinshasa - Eighteen people drowned yesterday in a swimming pool outside the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo following a firing incident by soldiers, police said.
Police Inspector Raus Chalwe said the tragedy at Nsele resort, 15 miles from Kinshasa, happened when soldiers opened fire in a bid to save a girl who was being raped. Eighteen people, mostly schoolchildren and students, drowned in the ensuing panic, he said.