GOMA, DR Congo, Oct 3, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Rescuers have recovered some 20 bodies after a boat carrying people and merchandise capsized Thursday on Lake Kivu in eastern DR Congo, security and harbour sources said.

The vessel, which had come from the town of Minova in the South Kivu province, sank mid-morning on Thursday just 100 metres (109 yards) away from its destination at the shore of Goma, the capital of neighbouring North Kivu.

"I saw 17 bodies but also survivors who were sent to hospital without much hope," a security source at Kituku harbour in Goma told AFP. 

Another source from authorities at the port said that 18 bodies had been recovered and rescue operations were ongoing. 

"They were taken to various morgues," the source said.

While authorities did not specify the number of passengers onboard, two children were rushed to hospital but died before they could be treated, a medical source said.

More and more people are opting to cross the northern tip of Lake Kivu by boat to reach Goma to avoid overland travel in an area prone to fighting between Congolese government forces and the rebel movement M23.

Since launching an offensive in late 2021, M23, a Rwandan-backed, largely Tutsi militia, has seized large swathes of territory in the eastern DRC -- a mineral-rich region housing a string of rival rebel groups that has been plagued by internal and cross-border violence for the past three decades. 

Deadly shipwrecks on lakes and rivers are common occurrences in the central African country, where roads are in poor condition and a systematic lack of passenger lists often complicates rescue operations.