Congolese officials say at least 49 people have died after a boat tipped over on the Congo River in the country's northwest.

The vice governor of Tshuapa province, Richard Mboyo Iluka, says the boat was taking people from Monkoto to Mbandaka city on Thursday but capsized just outside Wafania.

He tells The Associated Press that a team has been dispatched to investigate and get a more realistic death toll.

He says he doesn't know how many people were on the boat or how many are thought to have survived.

The vice governor says the cause of the accident remains unknown.

Boats transporting people along the river, a key travel corridor in Congo, are often overcrowded.