Brother Richard left Kinshasa on Monday December 7th, 2009 at 10:30 am. He arrived in Maluku, 50 miles from Kinshasa, at 12:00 pm and then he left then to go to the accident site.
On Tuesday December 8th, 2009, at 4:00 am, he used a motorized pirogue (dugout canoe) to get to a boat, which would bring him to the accident site.
The sight was pitiful: the barge’s cargo, a capacity of 850 tons, had been emptied after the barge hit a big rock in the middle of the river in the night. The pictures attached show a lot of the damaged caused by this accident.
After the impact, there was a hole in the barge, and water began to spread in the bottom of every compartment. According to the ship owner, everything that was perishable in the compartments, such as concrete, salt, medical products, books and booklets, etc. was thrown into the water to save human lives. Only about 10 vehicles and a few goods that were on the surface of the barge were saved.
The barge was transporting over 500 tons of goods belonging to individuals, organizations, etc. There were also passengers: women, children, and adults, as we usually see here in this country.
As the boxes of books were in the compartments of one of the barges, and the sunken barge was bringing the other boat down with her, the ship owner decided to throw out all the goods that were in the barge damaged by the impact with the rock. We then lost all the books that were for the Eastern Congo, to the Bumba and Lisala centers.
When we heard the news, on Sunday December 6th, 2009, we did what we had to do to acknowledge the facts. We are dismayed by this situation. It is a first time for us, and we have been shipping on the Congo River for years.
This is briefly our report.
Richard Bawelatoma (Assistant) and Serge Mali Kumu Alunga (Manager)