Kinshasa, September 15th, 2025 (CPA). Fourteen (14) ships, including whaling boats, caught fire during a blaze that broke out last Sunday in a river harbour in Gombe, north of the city of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to administrative sources on Monday.
« A fire broke out on Sunday evening at the Scribe port in Gombe. Firefighters were unable to extinguish the fire because the site was inaccessible. It was difficult to deploy water hoses to extinguish the flames caused by fuel containers. Fourteen ships, including whaling boats piled up against each other, were burned, » has said Kangafu, commander of the Kinshasa fire brigade.
‘There was significant material damage and human casualties. Some people who were on the barges were affected by the fire. There were certainly fatalities. But it is difficult to give a precise assessment because the fire brigade had difficulty responding,’ he has added.
According to him, the firefighters faced a logistical problem. ‘If the fire service had had fast canoes, we could have organized an appropriate response. Unfortunately, that was not possible,’ he suggested.
Eleven commercial buildings destroyed by fire in Lemba One of the buildings destroyed by fire in Lemba Eleven (11) commercial buildings were destroyed by a fire that broke out on Sunday night in the Kemi neighborhood (Righini) of Lemba, a municipality in central Kinshasa, according to administrative sources. « I was managing the situation from my home until 3:30 a.m. There was an electrical problem that caused a fire in one of the premises, affecting about four commercial buildings, including a hairdressing salon, a games room and two cybercafés. The fire then spread to 11 commercial buildings, » has said Jean Serge Poba, mayor of Lemba.
Mr Poba has indicated that young people tried to save some property and extinguish the fire without success due to a shortage of water, so he called the fire brigade, who unfortunately were unable to intervene.
‘I even tried to contact the town hall to send fire trucks, but logistical constraints prevented them from responding in time. There were no casualties, but the material damage is enormous. The fire broke out around 2 a.m.,’ he has said. Mr Poba has also expressed his sympathy to those who lost their possessions, while asking them to remain vigilant in monitoring and preventing any unauthorized electrical connections in order to guard against potential incidents that could hinder development. Six military hangars were destroyed by a fire that broke out last July due to an electrical short circuit. The following month, four warehouses at the Kintambo municipal market were also ravaged by a fire that occurred under the same circumstances.