At least 140 people were reported to have lost their lives in a boat disaster in Congo-Kinshasa earlier in the week, and another hundred were reported missing on Friday.
However, the information from the regional government in the province of Équateur is denied by the mayor of the affected city of Mbandaka, Yves Balo.
We count 195 survivors... and 33 dead, of which 29 have already been buried, says Balo to AFP.
He explains the discrepancy between the death tolls by saying that "others" have mixed up the week's figures with a total number of deaths in several accidents on the Congo River.
The million-city Mbandaka, provincial capital in Équateur in northwestern Congo-Kinshasa, has been affected by several serious boat accidents. Two years ago, around 50 people died in an accident similar to the one that occurred during the night against Wednesday.
