A ship known as MV MJP, which usually sail between DR Congo and Tanzania is reported to have sunk in Lake Tanganyika.
It is being feared that many of its passengers are still missing. The entire vessel went down under, as it seems.
The doomed vessel is the one pictured above.
At least 40 people are missing, many feared dead, following the accident which occurred on Thursday, the 24th of September 2026.
So far, as the search continues, 36 other passengers have already been pulled out of the waters in the deepest Lake in Africa. These are alive, with little, if any, injuries.
The Marine Vessel MV MJP had just left the Kigoma Port in Tanzania and was sailing towards Kalemie in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Reports have that the ship capsized and sank near the shoreline of Mapera Village on the coast of Kabimba within the territorial side of DR Congo.
The cause of the accident is yet to be determined though there are reports of turbulent weather conditions that have been affecting Lake Tanganyika of late.
Still some observers vow that the ship was overloaded. It was flying a DRC flag.
The ship had nearly 90 people aboard, including the passengers and crew.
However, some reports claim it could have carried more than 100 persons.
The DR Congo’s Provincial Minister of the Environment, Transport, Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Norris Mulongoy Mutamba said several search teams have been deployed to trace the missing persons in the lake.
“This is because ships and large boats sailing on Tanganyika usually pick a lot of people along the way and these additional passengers board them from the canoes or speedboats that take people from nearby villages and load them onto the passing ships,” explained a resident of Kigoma.
As it happens, the ships’ manifests are usually never adhered to. The number of people who depart with vessels from ports are not always the same that disembark at the end of the journeys.
But other than passengers the MV MJP was also loaded with cargo and continued to pick more en-route.
The accident is the second incident to occur on Lake Tanganyika within just one week.
Previously on the 18th of September 2026 a privately owned vessel which is Christened HB-YESU NI KIMBILIO reportedly sank in Africa’s deepest lake while making a cross-border trip from Kigoma, in Tanzania, sailing to the port of Kazimia in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Ten people were reported missing.
