Over 5,500 missing in flood-hit east Congo

Over 5,500 people are still unaccounted for in eastern Democratic of Congo, in an area where floods killed more than 400 people last week.

According to a local official who provided the figures on Tuesday, thousands of shaken survivors are waiting for food aid.

Scores of bodies have been recovered from the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi in South Kivu province’s Kalehe territory since torrential rain caused landslides and flash floods on Thursday, a disaster that flattened buildings and swept away crops.

Kalehe administrator Thomas Bakenga Zirimwabagabo said that 411 bodies have been found so far and at least 5,525 people are still missing.

Mass graves were dug over the weekend to dispose of the dead, many of whom were women and children, prompting complaints from some civil society groups saying the burials were undignified.

Over 8,800 affected residents are waiting for aid just as Red Cross workers sound the alarm about a lack of supplies and equipment to assist survivors of one of the deadliest natural disasters in Congo’s recent history.

Reuters