At least 22 people have been killed in a fire at a wedding party in Congo's capital, Kinshasa, the regional mayor stated on Saturday. The blaze started overnight on Friday and continued into early Saturday morning inside a building in Lingwala, in northern Kinshasa, leaving several other people injured. Onlookers placed victims - some alive and some dead - by the roadside while attendees tried to assist survivors, as narrow hallways obstructed those attempting to escape from the fire.
The mayor of Lingwala, Norbert Mushinga, told the Congolese Press Agency that the provisional death toll stands at 22, warning that the figure could rise further. The exact cause of the fire remains unconfirmed. "It is a tragedy," Jacquemin Shabani, Congo's deputy prime minister and interior minister, said.
The minister visited the site on Saturday morning. Deadly blazes occur regularly across Kinshasa's densely populated urban areas, where expanding development is not complemented with emergency fire services. Such fires are common during the dry season, with local media noting several outbreaks already this year.
The deadly blaze comes at a time when Congo is battling with an Ebola outbreak that is spreading at unprecedented speed. More than 3,000 people have died since the outbreak was declared from over 6,100 confirmed infections, according to fresh government statistics released on Wednesday. Figures published by Congo’s Ministry of Health confirm 6,186 infections and 3,007 fatalities since the situation was designated an international health emergency in mid-May.
The crisis continues to be the most rapidly expanding Ebola epidemic on record. Infections have escalated sharply in recent weeks, reaching two additional health zones in North Kivu last week—a province experiencing a significantly higher mortality rate than other impacted areas. In total, the virus has now extended its reach across six provinces.
On Tuesday, an evaluation by the US Centers for Disease Control warned that suppression measures "remained below established response targets". The agency noted that the swift movement of infections across numerous health zones demonstrates an "uncontrolled expansion of the outbreak." Frontline healthcare staff are operating under difficult conditions and have repeatedly gone on strike demanding their pay.
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