ISTANBUL

At least 62 people were confirmed dead and 50 remain missing after severe floods swept through villages along Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s eastern South Kivu province, officials said Saturday.

The deluge struck around 5 a.m. local time (0300GMT) Friday, when surging waters engulfed the village of Kasaba in the Ngandja sector, witnesses reported. Torrential rains triggered the flooding, washing away homes and cutting off communications.

South Kivu provincial health minister Theophile Walulika Muzaliwa told Arab News by phone that search and rescue efforts were severely hindered.

"Sector chiefs, village chiefs and locality chiefs, who are also members of the local government, are on site. The only humanitarian organization currently present is the Red Cross. It is not possible to give an assessment as body searches are continuing," said Muzaliwa.

The flooding occurred weeks after similar rainfall killed 33 victims in the national capital of Kinshasa. Infrastructure across the country has been battered in recent months, with the humanitarian response strained by a conflict in the region.

Fighting between government forces and armed groups escalated in February, compounding what the UN calls one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.