More than 22,000 people have crossed Lake Albert to Uganda in the last week to escape increased fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DCR), the UN said on February 13.

About 34,000 people have fled the DRC to Uganda since the beginning of the year, often in small canoes or “overcrowded and rickety fishing boats,” which often carry more than 250 people and take up to 10 hours to cross, according to the UN.

Many of the refugees said they were trying to escape ethnic fighting in the DRC’s Ituri province where there were reports of entire villages being burned to the ground. Some of the migrants reported that others had drowned while attempting to flee the region. Credit: UNHCR via Storyful