A devastating fire that broke out at a wedding celebration in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital Kinshasa has claimed the lives of at least 22 attendees and left multiple others injured, the local regional mayor confirmed Saturday.
The blaze ignited late Friday inside a multi-story building in Lingwala, a neighborhood in northern Kinshasa, and burned through the structure into the early hours of Saturday. Emergency response and witness accounts point to deadly chaos as crowds tried to flee the spreading flames: the building’s narrow hallways became dangerously blocked by escaping guests, trapping many inside and worsening the death toll.
In the chaotic aftermath of the fire, desperate attendees pulled victims from the burning building and laid them along nearby roadsides, separating the injured survivors from the deceased in their efforts to rush the wounded to receive urgent medical care.
Norbert Mushinga, mayor of the Lingwala district, shared the provisional death toll of 22 with the Congolese Press Agency, adding that the final number of fatalities is likely to increase as search and assessment operations continue at the site.
As of Saturday, the exact cause of the blaze remains unconfirmed. Congo’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jacquemin Shabani called the incident a tragedy during an on-site visit he conducted Saturday morning to assess the damage and meet with response teams.
Deadly fire incidents are a recurring public safety crisis in densely populated neighborhoods across Kinshasa. Much unregulated urban development across the capital has left most residential and event buildings without basic infrastructure including accessible fire exits and dedicated local fire services, putting communities at constant risk. Local media reports note that fires are particularly frequent during the region’s dry season, and this incident marks at least several deadly blazes recorded across the country this year alone.