Deadliest Roads | Congo River | Free Documentary

[Music] [Music] [Music] no [Music] engine failure illness this might look like a mass exodus of refugees but in fact it's part of a regular ferry service between the villages along the river congo the commander is a there's everything on the boat life birds anyone who slips overboard will be chopped up into little pieces by the propellers instant there two thousand passengers are jammed one on top of the other for the two week long journey i have nothing it was up to me i'd get off and head back the way i came along the banks of the congo the wagonia fishermen risked their lives daily for the sake of a few fish god bless the river which feeds us and allows us to survive the river congo is sacred for a man to have the force he needs to prove himself in the kebobo ceremony the plane ticket cost six months salary so ever since the land route became impassable the river congo has become the main thoroughfare between kinshasa the capital of the democratic republic of congo and kisangani the country's third largest city journeys from another age that meander 1700 kilometers through the heart of africa to all appearances this is a junkyard but it is in fact the port of kinshasa one of the biggest cities in africa [Music] rice palm oil spices all is transported by human labor since the cranes have long since stopped working amidst the tangle of boats is that a freighter that also takes on passengers for whom there are no cabins on board the journey means finding a place where you can on the bridge everyone makes do and the bermani soon resembles a floating slum [Music] there are 800 on board people often visit their relatives attend a marriage or a funeral others dream of making their fortune and are heading for the diamond mines on the other side of the country but the notion of time in the congo is like nowhere else these passengers have been waiting in the scorching sun for almost a month on board ship for its departure tired nerves frayed every day brings the hope the boat might leave and every day prosper the ship's owner dashes those hopes he's scared the passengers might finally snap listen by the grace of god we can finally head off this evening you don't think i'd just leave you all in this fix you may be able to sleep at night but i can't i've even lost 10 kilos running out of excuses to keep the passengers off his back so he's been telling one lie after another he's told some of them they'll be leaving tonight others in the morning stay calm my brothers tomorrow is the big day but we're still here the congo is rotting away plagued by a rampant corruption that handicaps just about every facet of life in the country the bermania is stuck in port as prosper refuses to give the fuel supplier the bribe he is demanding the result mysteriously is that no more fuel tankers have apparently been available for a few weeks if you give the money then everything will go quickly this is the congo [Music] the rumblings of a revolt can be heard on board the bomani the latest is that the fuel will not be available until the following day whisper tries his best to quieten the angry crowd [Music] we've had enough we've suffered long enough i had a phone call from the people who bring the fuel and they said they had some problems with their tanker [Music] yesterday they didn't keep their promises so why should it be different today they had delays but the tanker will arrive let's get back on the ship and if we're still here tomorrow then we can really start an uprising okay without the passengers help things could have turned nasty for prosper he's finally caved in and paid the supplier his bride he waits at the roadside for the tanker to show up look there's the vehicle my net mind out watch your hands steady kid steady grab it properly eager to leave the passengers lend a hand with the fueling which involves 30 cans of petrol each with 200 liters captain renee too is impatient to leave his salary depends on it as he's paid by the trip he wants to slip the moorings as soon as possible and as he does at the start of each journey the captain doesn't forget to thank the captain in chief i am about to take command of the ship in the name of almighty jesus i have destroyed the power of the devil and satan i reject him in the name of almighty jesus and i take command of the ship in his name lord jesus i renounce the spirits of all accidents death and epidemics in the name of all powerful jesus our men that ben army can finally cast off any mechanics over there [Music] the two engines have lain idle for several months anything goes in the port of kinshasa and there are no rules and the various boats weave in and out in total anarchy see that cable take it off and put it over there about 10 other boats are circling close by the bemini [Music] no no don't head that way [Music] [Music] oh the bemani is nearly 100 meters long so to help it maneuver the crew are using cables on both sides of the ship put the cable on this side they pull them to help steer the vessel port or starboard hey just one loop with the cable it's a highly risky maneuver for the passengers on the bridge the cables are so taut they are close to breaking point if there's a violent movement it could knock them over just like that we have had injuries and even some people killed [Music] one month behind schedule the bemani finally sets off along the river to the passengers great relief as it leaves the port two barges come alongside the ship to form a water convoy altogether seventeen hundred people are on board and the bermani has essentially become a floating town [Music] conditions on board are cramped the first arrivals have set up camp in the middle of the bridge almost first class accommodation compared to the others who will have to remain seated for the next three weeks as there's no room even to stretch out worse still some are perched precariously just inches from the edge of the deck [Music] [Music] after months without work adonis is on the boat with his wife and six kids having secured a new job and a new life as a mechanic in kissangani the family has been lucky having been able to get a place in the middle of the deck [Music] in his shop he sells soap cakes salt which in turn allows him to purchase something that is much valued on board there's no drinking water here and it's for sale at 100 congolese frank's a liter but my ultimate it's too unhealthy otherwise there's no water or electricity on the bimani and each square inch of the ship is taking up as living quarters making it very difficult to move around on board that are sleeping here camp is on the opposite side to the showers on the other end of the ship going to get washed is like an assault course under a truck pass hundreds of people crossing many obstacles and above all avoid knocking over the pots of boiling oil that litter the bridge [Music] there's no way through here you fall adonis finally makes it to the showers it's very dangerous using the water here is very risky the current's too strong you might get sucked in and swept away an old petrol can serves as a shower head as for the toilets you need to be brave to step inside the back is the men's shell after you wash you let the others go in so they can also wash it and you do your business [Music] if anyone slips they'll fall under the propeller and get sliced up he'll die all chopped up in little bits i've seen it myself people have fallen in and got chopped into bits the river congo looks calm almost placid yet the pilot is constantly on the lookout the river is like a siren that bewitches and sends men to sleep hiding the dangers because the congo sweeps along debris and tree trunks that could pierce the hull of the ship at any moment steering a ship is a bit like driving a truck except on the river you need to stay beside because there are no me here that indicate rocks so it's up to the captain to guide us through [Music] no markers and virtually no navigation charts to help the pilot but captain renee knows this river well and is the only person on board who knows exactly where the rocks and the wrecks are you need to know the river between here and kissing [Music] there is in fact a chart on board but it hasn't been updated since belgian colonial days more than 50 years ago this is the original chop it dates from when the belgians were here in the mid-1950s [Music] there used to be a wreck here in the middle of the channel but there are no signals there so you need to make sure you use the main channel [Music] there are no life vests or lifeboats on board the bermani in the congo they are not mandatory every year a number of ships sink in the waters of the river with a loss of hundreds of lives [Music] there's a wreck and it's hard to save even just a few people usually three quarters of those on board will drown the bimani has been struck by a tree trunk which has breached the ship's hull one of the holes is flooded and spilling over and the extra weight threatens the ship's balance the passengers however seem to be unconcerned [Music] the tree trunk was floating in the river and has made a hole in the hole the trunk went under one of the barges and opened up some cracks the ship sinks will all die [Music] we're trying to plug the hole where the hull was damaged with cement stop the [Music] the hull and fix it properly [Music] after two days on the river the ship reaches the village of maluku dozens of canoes have been waiting for weeks filled with passengers and goods waiting to get on board [Music] the bimani is too big to pull up so it slows down and everyone tries to scramble on board as best they can [Music] how am i meant to get through you say i'm stuck that way the ship was already overcrowded but amazingly almost another 200 people managed to clamber on board i'll make some room for you let's not argue okay let me just put my bag down and then you'll have room stop your bickering put your packages over there they keep telling them to climb on board but there's no room because of those already here i need to check up on everybody ticket check an almost impossible task since the ship is now packed with almost 2 000 passengers new arrivals have melted into the mess the crew now has to track down the illegal passengers only three people have paid here the rest of you out the journey costs 40 euros which is a month's salary in the congo as a result many try and sneak a free ride josian is the ship's cashier despairs she has barely sold a ticket since the departure from kinshasa 36 have paid the ship's coffers are empty and it's a disaster for the owner prosper there are some dishonest people they scream and shout and make a fuss but don't want to pay they need a receipt we're struggling to get the fares which will get us to our final destination and we use it to pay the crew pay for the fuel the to get us to our final destination [Music] after five days the ship has only covered 400 of the 1700 kilometers to the final destination nobody on board really knows when they'll finally arrive it might be a week two weeks or even a month it's one reason why the passengers refuse to buy a ticket they need the cash to feed themselves every day river traders climb on [Music] today's choices are garden vegetables forest fruits and fresh fish but there is rarely enough for everyone hey i'm here ahead of you stop pushing don't push [Music] give me four medium sized fish for a few extra congolese franks you can buy monkey meat even though the animal is protected and hunting it forbidden and it's good for those who live along the riverbanks the ship is a godsend very few ever get to the city so they barter food in return for batteries medicine and clothes some fishermen risk their lives to make a living on the far side of the river the volaganya braved the rapids every day their unique method of fishing has been handed down over the generations using their bare hands they look among the rocks for fish trapped by the currents the fishermen dance with death and an angry river oh gilbert's family have been fishermen for generations without the river he'd be nothing but there's a price to pay back in 84 my older brother was killed when the current threw him against some of the rocks his name was cajoli my brother's bodies were never found they were swept but we won't stop fishing it's our life [Music] so as not to have to dive in the rapids too often the fishermen have devised a snare fashioned from wood it works well and the men will later share the day's catch between them [Music] the current is very strong and dangerous when the fish is caught in the trap it's killed right away the money we make from selling fish is for the women and children so they can pay for the school a dozen families live in the village which has no electricity with my first wife we had six kids i married her in 82. my second wife i married in 86 and we had three children maybe a tattoo and with my third wife who i married in 88 we had another the 17 members of the clan live in this ramshackle house inside there's barely any furniture apart from a bench and a chair our ancestors were the same if you only had one wife you'd feel foreign [Music] as a mark of respect for the river the best fighters are about to slug it out they practice cabobo the local combat sport it's a question of brute force and has particular meaning to the fisherman is the way to build up your strength and to take on the river currents without it there's nothing you could do that's why we teach cabobo to the children don't be scared of him don't be scared be aggressive once you get hold of him pull him pull him you need to use your legs for support [Applause] [Music] understood [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the big manny and her captain are also fighting against the current after a week they've made only 500 kilometers the journey is turning into an epic yet it proves a windfall for marie mondo bay an unemployed nurse a combination of the weather and the worsening sanitary conditions is starting to make people ill there's no doctor and no sick bay on board so the captain julia points her the ship's doctor i'm a passenger like everyone else but i've studied nursing and i'm qualified i finished studying in 2003 and got 62 in my final exams with 62 of medical knowledge marie tours the ship looking for the sick most on board have never seen let alone been treated by a doctor in her white blouse and armed with a stethoscope marie takes charge this 18 month old girl has been feverish for several days marie first diagnoses malaria but then changes her mind i need to treat her for typhoid it's serious it can kill it's just that i can't sell it in my merchandise nobody wants any but your daughter has typhoid don't you have anything cheaper please treat her we're all in the same boat here i'll pay you later if you've got the money you can i'll give her an injection in the morning and one at night and she'll be much better the parents don't have enough money to pay for the medicine but marie won't charge them for the first treatment the voyage is particularly hard on the children especially when the poorest parents give them river water to drink he's vomiting and we need to stop that when i use the stethoscope i can tell what the different sounds and coughs indicate if you tap the chest and you hear it boom boom sibling i need to do this to prevent the air bubbles [Music] so the veins are difficult to locate veins are not easy to spot even in his feet there are no veins visible and this is where i was thinking of putting in the needle i'll check over there if there are any vitamin b6 tablets it's like medicine during wartime because the conditions are exactly unfavorable here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] nine days on the river and the bermani is about six days behind schedule so late that those who are sick won't be able to wait for proper medical treatment in kissangani captain renee has just crossed into the equator region an invisible border but one that worries him nonetheless this potentially rich region is being constantly fought over by armed gangs who want to control its gold and diamond mines several boats have been attacked and passengers kill on board the bermani everyone is tense even more so as the river itself carries evidence of this troubled region [Music] victim of the fighting day 10 and the bermani continues its relentless journey up the river [Music] me every evening renee makes the rounds of his ship to check on his capital as he likes to say he receives a percentage of the take and the sleeping passengers piled on top of each other represent a considerable amount of money when they eventually pay their fares in kisangani we need the money so just about anyone who has the money is welcome [Music] the passengers are so exhausted that even the threat of a rebel attack can't prevent them sleeping most are unaware of another danger there's so little room that some are sleeping where the hulls of the vessels are fastened together any sudden movement of the water means the hulls will strike each other crushing anyone who's caught it's not good it's very dangerous you could get your legs crushed or cut off by the ship's movements oh god will protect us [Music] it's three in the morning and marie the nurse has been urgently summoned a passenger had his foot caught between the two hulls like a vice and his heel has been seriously injured marie tries to stitch the wound as best as she can [Music] no that one's too big it'll never go in there's no needle size five syringe anyone else have syringes we need a thinner thread now you know the guy that was screaming that that's because his heel has been deeply cute to try and keep the shape marie has performed magnificently but she's concerned she doesn't have enough antibiotics to last the whole trip her main fear is gangrene [Music] dawn on day 11. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hallelujah but god however chooses not to hear their prayers just a few hours later the port side engine gives up the ghost make the ship list this way and make sure it starts to lift over this way and have a good look around the engine room [Music] we're trying to see where it's from [Music] we haven't seen anything nothing's uh fallen through into the casing our engineer checked but didn't see a bolt missing well it happens sometimes small parts do fall into the engine yeah look look at this piston it might break down again it worries me before we start up we need to lift the casing and test it now we're just waiting for the engine to uh get fixed amidst all this bad news there is one happy event a baby has just been born the family didn't have time to inform marie the nurse [Music] [Applause] is it a boy yeah is he healthy we this passenger helped the mother give birth i was sleeping in my corner when they fetched me to help this woman give birth i'm a member of the red cross you see and it's a great joy the birth of this child the mother looks a little lost it's been a long hard journey just getting onto the ship [Music] i'm a little sad because i have nothing i lost everything i had on the way the military stole everything we had all i have are some of my other child's clothes i have no blankets or covers to keep off the cold i'm scared for my baby because i have no money left to buy food no provisions and there's no proper shelter news of the birth spreads quickly and so does camaraderie when we saw her in that state we all wanted to do something to help even if we're not family that's the way it works in the congo we all help each other family comes with misery whether you have a family or not where there's a problem there's a solution during the course of the journey two more babies will be born [Music] even if they've seen it all before the sailors are still touched by the births i [Music] the grandfather is so happy that he's named his grandson bermani after the ship [Music] they've now been stuck for seven hours and some angry passengers go to the engine room for an explanation we're not cattle you know yeah maybe but get out of here please suddenly the old engine splutters into life again this is the piston and this one is in good condition and this part you see this one's dead burnt out in an effort to make up for lost time captain renee takes some enormous risks he's decided to carry on sailing at night time along the most dangerous stretch of the river somewhere he usually navigates only by day here the danger is constantly shifting always on the move the bemani heads into the darkness with a large torch as their only source of light [Music] coxswain how far is it to the riverbank the danger in this part of the river is not rocks but the sandbanks despite the currents the pilot has to keep the ship in deep waters in the middle of the river the channel is narrow i'm showing him the way since there are no markings if the crew were to use a sounding line for five meters they wouldn't touch the bottom but the coxswain is about to make a mistake we're drifting straighten up the pilot has lost his course and without a more powerful beam to light the way the captain has no way of knowing the ship's position on the river who's taking the soundings take a sounding line and measure the depth one meter 60 the ship has just run aground on a sandbank i think we're really stuck faster [Music] that's where we hit the bank and it's that side that's stuck in the sand now the communication system between the captain and the crew resembles the voyage itself no radio and the sailors 100 meters away can't hear the orders i must know how deep it is take a measure in the front chief give me out that let me know what the sounding says [Music] this way it's shifting only the front is still stuck but it'd be better if we stop and do this in the morning yeah because at night we might end up cutting people's legs off day break the next morning and the situation is hardly reassuring that's no throughout the night the ship's bow has become well and truly stuck in the sand the crew didn't do their jobs properly i'm sure they fell asleep we've been stuck since 8 o'clock last night the captain's doing his best to get us out of [Music] the sailors are willing to try anything they'll try to separate the barges from the ship in an attempt to be able to maneuver one of the barges is in front it just needs a push to get it free it's a delicate maneuver if the water isn't deep enough the barge could get stuck even faster the depth's just been checked it's one meter 80. that's fine that's enough water you need to go round the sand bank to get the barge back and hurry we've wasted enough time already i need more sailors up here [Music] pass the sounding line over i can see the sand and we're dangerously close let's get going okay we're off again [Music] [Applause] look everyone is applauding the crew who got us clear they're singing their praises everyone's happy now it's up to the captain to make up the time we're clear of the sand captain's a real operator he handled it very well he's a real fighter [Music] the town of bandarka is finally in sight it marks the halfway stage of the journey it's taken captain renee 12 days to reach this far it's about the same time it should have taken to reach the final destination still got another thousand kilometers to do [Music] this is where we get off fighting is still raging in the region and the captain fearful for our safety asks us to disembark here the ship will take a month to reach kisangani a few weeks later another ship won't be so lucky overloaded the kiabuntu sinks 140 of its passengers drown in the river congo [Music] so [Music] so [Music] foreign you

Channel: Free Documentary

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, most dangerous roads, most dangerous journeys, worlds most dangerous roads, worlds most dangerous journeys, deadliest roads, deadliest roads in the world, dicing with death, deadliest journeys, dicing with death congo, most dangerous roads congo, deadliest roads congo, dangerous roads congo, dangerous congo, deadliest journeys congo, congo river

Id: YMKtvc3zLdY

Length: 52min 52sec (3172 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 18 2021