Thursday's incident was the latest boat accident in the central African country, where overcrowding is often blamed.

Jean-Jacques Purusi, the governor of the South Kivu province, said at least 78 people died as the boat, which was carrying 278 passengers, capsized on Lake Kivu, in the east of the country.

At least 10 people were taken to hospital.

The boat, overloaded with passengers, sank while trying to dock just metres from the port of Kituku, according to witnesses. It headed to Goma in the North Kivu province from Minova in the South Kivu province.

Reuters news agency earlier cited a local migration authority saying about 45 males and 35 females were registered as passengers, although those are not definitive figures.

One witness, Francine Munyi, told the Associated Press that she was at the port when the boat arrived. She said it "started to lose its balance and sank into the lake. Some people threw themselves into the water".

Reuters also reports it has seen a video - which it has not verified - showing the two-deck boat tilting sideways before sinking in calm waters.

The victims' families and Goma residents gathered at the port of Kituku including 27-year-old Bienfait Sematumba, who said he had lost four family members.

In the summer, 80 passengers died when an overloaded boat sank near the capital Kinshasa.

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About 150 people died in April 2019, when a boat sank in Lake Kivu.

Such incidents are common in DR Congo, which has few roads outside of major towns and where boats are frequently loaded well beyond their capacity.