Kinshasa, Congo ? Nearly 200 people were missing after a barge caught fire and sank in a river in northwestern Congo, the United Nations said Saturday.

At least 301 of the nearly 500 people aboard the barge survived Monday’s accident on the Congo River near the town of Lukelela, said Alexandre Essome, spokesman for the U.N. Mission in Congo in the northwestern city of Mbandaka. One person was confirmed dead and at least one other suffered severe burns, he said.

“We don’t know what happened to the 200 who are missing,” Essome told The Associated Press by telephone. “According to survivors, they could have returned to (the capital) Kinshasa or Mbandaka … but it’s also possible that the death toll will rise.”

News of such tragedies often travels slowly in Congo because much of the vast country is made up of jungles, dirt roads and villages with no communications or electricity.

The fire started after a technician trying to repair a motor inadvertently set off a spark near a fuel barrel, Essome said.

The blaze spread quickly because most of the vessel was made of wood, forcing panicked passengers to jump into the Congo River and survivors to swim to shore.

The fire destroyed almost all the merchandise aboard, which included salt, food, fuel and live goats belonging to small Congolese traders.

“The villagers said they saw at least … six bodies floating in the river, but we couldn’t verify that,” Essome said.