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CatastropheDemocratic Republic of Congo

Snapped high-voltage power cable kills 26 in Congo

February 2, 2022

The deadly incident happened when power cables snapped and fell on homes and a market on the edge of the Congolese capital, Kinshasa.

https://p.dw.com/p/46QMv
People walk amid traffic near the site where a high-tension power cable snapped
The market lies on the southwestern edge of the city of some 10 million peopleImage: Pepele News/REUTERS

At least 26 people died on Wednesday when a high-voltage cable fell into a gutter filled with water at a market on the southern outskirts of the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The scope of the tragedy appeared to have been exacerbated by heavy rain that had flooded the area, where drainage was said to be poor.

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, said the victims included 24 women and two men, with another two people seriously injured. Most of the victims were market traders and people waiting for buses.

"The cable snapped and the live end of it fell into a ditch that was filled with water after morning rain," said Muyaya, who added that he and the prime minister had visited the site.

Muyaya said the government would hold a crisis meeting and tweeted that the government would pay for the funerals of the dead and the care of those who were injured.

"Women and men lost their lives by electrocution this morning in a terrible accident at the Matadi-Kibala market following the severing of a phase conductor caused by bad weather," Prime Minister Sama Lukonde said on Twitter.

"I share the immense pain of the families. My thoughts are also with all the injured," Lukonde added.

Broken infrastructure

Many Kinshasa residents buy food products from the province of Central Congo at the Matadi-Kibala market, which is in the southwest of the sprawling metropolis of more than 10 million people.

One market trader, Christelle Zindo, told the AFP news agency that the water regularly overflowed on the market because the gutter was blocked, complaining of a "total indifference" by authorities.

Whole neighborhoods are often flooded because of clogged and poorly maintained pipes that date back to the colonial era.

The nation of some 90 million people also has an electricity grid that is considered by many to be dilapidated. Authorities often delay repairs because of a lack of money.

The national electricity company, SNEL, offered its condolences to the families.

rc/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)