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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

50 Feared Dead After Zairean Barge Sinks

Compiled From Wire Services

A Zairian barge sank in Lake Tanganyika and all 50 people on board are feared dead, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The barge, Ekizongwe, was en route from the Zairean port of Kalemie to the Tanzanian port to Kigoma on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, about 435 miles northwest of Dar es Salaam, the capital, the Sunday Observer newspaper reported.

It quoted Muzigo Jafarri, a captain of another Zairian barge, as saying the barge left Kalemie Dec. 14 and should have arrived in Kigoma the next day. Reports of the disaster were slow to emerge because of communications difficulties in the region.

Early this year, more than 800 people died when a Tanzanian ferry, MV Bukoba, sank off Lake Victoria port of Mwanza northeast of Kigoma. The disaster was blamed on overloading a vessel that had structural defects.