A train accident Thursday evening in the south-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo left 75 dead and 125 injured, according to a new report established Sunday by the public rail transport company and released by the Ministry of Communication.
The previous balance sheet established on Saturday reported at least 60 dead, men, women and children, and 52 injured.
Following a visit to the site of the derailment, in the province of Lualaba, the director general of the National Railway Company of Congo (SNCC), Fabien Mutomb, "communicated the official toll of 75 deaths and 125 injured, including 28 with serious trauma referred to specialized medical centers,” the Congolese Ministry of Communication said on Twitter late Sunday.
Mr. Mutomb is expected in Kinshasa on Monday "for other practical arrangements related to the management of damage caused by this tragedy", added the ministry, which had announced a few hours earlier the visit of the boss of the SNCC, "with the members of the Commission of Inquiry".
The damaged convoy, made up of 15 wagons, was a freight train, but aboard which had taken place several hundred stowaways, said Saturday Manyonga Ndambo, director in charge of infrastructure at the SNCC, contacted by telephone from Lubumbashi.
The train came from Luena, in the neighboring province of Haut-Lomami and was heading for the mining town of Tenke.
It derailed Thursday evening at 11:50 p.m. in the village of Buyofwe, about 200 km from Kolwezi, "at a place where there are ravines", in which 7 of the 15 wagons fell, he added.
Mr. Ndambo said on Sunday that the track had been cleared since the beginning of the morning but that the damaged wagons still had to be towed.
The reasons for the accident were not specified by the authorities, but the dilapidated state of the rails is probably one of the causes.
Train derailments are frequent in the DRC, as are the sinking of overloaded boats on the country's lakes and rivers.
Often, in the absence of passenger trains or passable roads, passengers take freight trains to travel long distances.
Tunisia: demonstration against the ''confiscation'' of democracy
Tunisian opposition supporters take part in a rally against President Kais Saied's seizure of power and the economic crisis in the North African country
At the call of the free Destourian, at least 2,000 people demonstrated Sunday in Tunis, against the presumed confiscation of power by them for 8 months now. The political climate in Tunisia has been faltering since the suspension of the National Assembly by Kai Saied.
A decline in democracy denounced by its opponents who consider illegal, the executive in place in the country. Also, the demonstrators, they call on the population to come out of their silence to make things happen. They demand, among other things, legislative elections within a reasonable time. Rejecting the December date chosen by the authorities.
"If I don't protest and the others do the same, who among the decision makers will think of us? Forgive me! The least I can do is answer the call of the Free Destourian Party.", asks Lassaad, a protester. His compatriot Mounira agrees. "I came today to defend the values of democracy... The real values, not the ones that we have been told about with propaganda for 11 years and that we friends of people who protect institutes like Al-Qaradawi ", says -she.
In addition to the political aspect, on Sunday, Tunisians also demonstrated against the high cost of living in a country already plunged into an economic crisis.
Tunisia is experiencing a shortage of staple foods as the war in Ukraine is likely to impact the supply chain in the country as the month of Ramadan approaches. But President Kais Saied sees behind these shortages the action of ''speculators'' and other ''profiteers'' in the food sector who seek to undermine peace and social security.
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