Up to 200 people were missing and feared dead after a ferry was destroyed by fire on the mighty Congo River in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of Congo, UN officials in the country said today.
A UN spokesman said aid workers had rescued 301 people out of about 500 passengers, many of whom scrambled to jump out of the boat as it fell apart engulfed by flames.
He said the disaster happened last Monday, but the potential scale of the tragedy only became apparent yesterday.
"The fire spread quickly and people jumped into the river in panic. The boat burnt entirely," spokesman Mr Alex Essome said by phone from the Congolese river town of Mbandaka.
"Those who could make it across the other bank have survived. Those who didn't, we expect not," he said.
Mr Essome said he could not confirm the death toll but said villagers near the accident scene had spotted bodies floating in the river.