A frantic search and rescue operation was underway hours later as many remained unaccounted for from the vessel, believed to have had 278 people on board.

At least 78 people drowned when a boat carrying 278 passengers capsized in Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, a provincial governor said.

A boat carrying scores of passengers capsized on Lake Kivu in eastern Congo on Thursday, killing at least 50 people, witnesses told The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were on board or how many perished but witnesses said they saw rescue services recover at least 50 bodies from the water.

Officials in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo reported at least 23 people are dead after an overloaded boat capsized in Lake Kivu about 100 meters from shore near Goma in the eastern North Kivu region.

A Congolese governor says at least 78 people died when an overcrowded boat with 278 passengers capsized on Lake Kivu

At least 20 bodies have been recovered from Lake Kivu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, after a ferry capsized just a few hundred metres from its destination. The boat was travelling from the town of Minova in South Kivu and sank as it was arriving on Goma's shore on Thursday morning.

The governor of the South Kivu province said the death toll was provisional and the number of fatalities could rise further. He said there were 278 people on board, according to local authorities.