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DRCONGO-ACCIDENT
10 missing as jeep crashes into DR Congo dam
LUBUMBASHI, DR Congo, April 23, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Ten people, including
eight student trainees, are feared dead after the jeep they were travelling
in fell into a dam at the Nzilo hydropower station in southeast DR Congo, the
plant’s boss said Tuesday.
Around closing time Monday, the car transporting 11 workers careened out of
control, left the road, and rolled several times in the ravine before falling
into the dam, Henry Tchibanze, head of the hydroelectric plant, told AFP.
“We have just rescued a survivor and recovered two bodies” from the water,
said Adolphe Mwenzi of the Snel national electricity provider.
The survivor “told us there were 11 people in the jeep” including three
Snel workers and eight trainees, he said.
The crash appears to have been caused by a front wheel of the jeep coming
off, said Mwenzi.
According to the Congolese press, the trainees were students from the ISTA
technical university in Lubumbashi.
The power plant, about 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of the town of
Kolwezi, has a capacity of 100 megawatts.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1753 hrs