The death toll from flooding in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo crept higher on Tuesday as aid workers found more bodies among the muddy devastation and as wounded residents succumbed to their injuries in an underequipped local clinic.
The floods, in a remote, mountainous area of South Kivu province, ripped through the riverside villages of Nyamukubi and Bushushu five days ago, razing houses, destroying crops and killing more than 400 people, the deadliest natural disaster in Congo's recent history.
In Nyamukubi, entire neighbourhoods have been run over with boulders, and the stink of dead bodies wafts from the earth, a Reuters reporter at the scene said. The homeless are packed into the few public buildings left intact, with poor sanitation. More than 5,500 people are still unaccounted for, local administrator Thomas Bakenga Zirimwabagabo said.
But the delegation did not take part in burials as planned or visit Bushushu, where the death toll is believed to be greater because it was market day when the flood hit.
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