KINSHASA: Two boats collided over the weekend on the Congo River, killing at least 30 people and leaving dozens missing, local Congolese authorities said Monday.

The motorized wooden boats crashed into one another on Sunday near the Ngombe-Lukolela area in the province of Equateur, according to the provincial interior minister, Crispin Mputu.

The reason for the crash was not immediately clear.

The minister told The Associated Press that the 30 killed in the crash have already been buried.

One boat was travelling from Ubangi, in the northwest, to the capital of Kinshasa, and the other from Kinshasa to Lukolela, close to where the collision happened, Mputu said.

Search efforts continue to find more victims and survivors, he added.