An overloaded barge collided with a boat carrying 150 people on Thursday, February 12.

The search for some 100 people continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the collision of an overloaded barge and a boat carrying some 150 people in Congo River at a resort downstream of the town of Kwamouth, CNN reported citing Eugene Kabambi, World Health Organisation (WHO) spokesman in the capital, Kinshasa.

Eugene Kabambi said the collision happened on Thursday, February 12, 2015 morning but news of the disaster was just emerging. Local officials say 42 people have been rescued and WHO reports say three bodies have been found. The WHO official said in a statement that the organization was assisting in the search  for  up to 100 people believed  missing after their boat sank in Kwamouth, some 200 kilometres  east of   the capital Kinshasa. "We are searching for as many as 100 people in the Congo River as well as assisting these people with body bags, medical kit. One of the boats was totally destroyed and that is the one we believe was carrying the missing," CNN quoted Eugene Kabambi as saying. The overloaded barge was said to be en route to Inongo. The accident is believed to have been caused by powerful currents near the Ngobila rapids.

WHO in a statement said three bodies had been recovered from the river so far. “No passenger manifest was available so it's difficult to establish the total number of people on board the privately owned vessel,” it said. “No one is thought to have been injured on the barge,” the statement further indicated. By Saturday, WHO officials were awaiting medical supplies and body bags. Reports say overloaded barges and passenger boats frequently sink in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the Congo River and on the country's lakes. On Monday, February 9, 2015  for instance, at least 20 people died in a sinking boat further upstream on the Congo River, some 450 kilometres northeast of Kinshasa.