The crew are constantly on the lookout for hidden dangers.
This river sweeps along debris and tree trunks that could
pierce the hull of the ship at any moment.
There are no markers and virtually no navigation charts to help the crew.
But Captain Rene knows this river well and is the only person
on board who knows exactly where the rocks and shipwrecks are.
There is actually a chart on board, but it hasn't been
updated since Belgian colonial days more than 50 years ago.
In an effort to make up for lost time, Captain
Rene rolls the dice and take some serious 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, that danger is constantly shifting, always on the move.
They head into the darkness with a large torch as their only source of light.
Despite the strong currents, the pilot has to keep the
ship in deep waters in the middle of the river.
But the captain is about to make a big mistake.
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.
The ship just hit a sandbank.
Daybreak and the situation is hardly reassuring.
The sailors are willing to try anything.
They'll try to separate the barges from the ship in an attempt to maneuver.
It's a delicate operation.
If the water isn't deep enough, the barge could get stuck even more.
Let's remember, they come a long way.
the guys in.
The ship will take a month to reach Kisangani.
A few weeks later, another ship won't be so lucky, overloaded it
sinks and 140 of its passengers drown in the River Congo.
