Rain flooding in eastern Congo leaves 62 people dead with 50 missing

Heavy flooding following torrential rains in eastern Congo washed away several villages along the shores of Lake Tanganyika, leaving at least 62 dead and 50 missing, authorities said Saturday.

Witnesses described the floods surging at around 5 am Friday and sweeping away the village of Kasaba on the edge of the lake in the Ngandja sector.

The South Kivu provincial health minister, Thophile Walulika Muzaliwa, said by phone that the rescue operation was hampered by a lack of services and a shutdown of telephone lines due to the flooding.

Sector chiefs, village chiefs and locality chiefs, who are also members of the local government, are on site. The only humanitarian organisation currently present is the Red Cross. It is not possible to give an assessment as body searches are continuing, he said.

Last month, flooding in the capital, Kinshasa, killed 33 people.

Decades of fighting between government troops and rebels in eastern Congo escalated in February, worsening what is already one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.