Free Republic

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, several hundred people are believed to have died in an accident involving a ship that caught fire and eventually sank. 148 bodies have been recovered from the water. At least a hundred people are still missing. The accident happened on Thursday, but now it has become clear that there are so many dead and missing. The wooden ship was sailing on the Congo River near the city of Mbandaka. It was believed that more than 500 people were on board when a fire broke out at a cooking stove. The fire spread quickly and...

AFTER an eight-day monster battle a British fisherman has caught one of the world's most fearsome freshwater fish. Monster catch on Congo fishing trip Pause 0:00 / 0:39Scrubber mute Share Fullscreen Monster catch on Congo fishing trip Expert fisherman Jeremy Wade has caught a 50 kilogram tigerfish during a fishing expedition in Africa. 22 October 2010Sky News WATCH MORE VIDEO Angler Jeremy Wade wrestled the 5ft-long goliath tigerfish during a fishing expedition along the Congo River in Africa. The tigerfish - believed to be a deadlier version of the piranha - has 32 teeth that are a similar size to...

Scientists are reporting what they say is the longest sediment avalanche yet measured in action. It occurred underwater off West Africa, in a deep canyon leading away from the mouth of the Congo River. Something in excess of a cubic kilometre of sand and mud descended into the deep. This colossal flow kept moving for two whole days and ran out for more than 1,100km across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. The event would have gone unrecorded were it not for the fact that the slide broke two submarine telecommunications cables, slowing the internet and other data traffic between...