A high-tension power cable snapped and fell on houses and a market after lightning struck it on the outskirts of the Congolese capital Kinshasa on Wednesday, killing 26 people, authorities said.
DR Congo’s government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said on Twitter that 24 women and two men were killed. Another two people were seriously injured.
More than 13 million people live in Kinshasa, a city with outdated infrastructure and informal neighbourhoods that sprawl into areas not designed for residential development.
According to Congo’s national association of architects, the accident, which could have been prevented, resulted from a failure to respect town planning regulations.
The national electricity company said the lightning strike occurred during a heavy storm on Wednesday morning. The company sent its condolences to the families.
“Women and men lost their lives by electrocution this morning in a terrible accident at the Matadi-Kibala market following the severing of a phase conductor caused by bad weather,” Prime Minister Sama Lukonde said on Twitter. “I share the immense pain of the families. My thoughts are also with all the injured.”
Unverified online videos show people wailing around several dead bodies lying in puddles of water where they had fallen, surrounded by fresh produce.
Muyaya said he and the prime minister had visited the site and that the government would meet at the site to address the crisis.
He noted that the government had already taken steps to move the market following the Jan. 7 cabinet meeting, where President Felix Tshisekedi said its location was clogging traffic along the route between Kinshasa and Matadi.