Several people were feared dead after suffocating as they rode on the back of container trailer north of Zambia.
State TV quoted an eyewitness who said the dead were as many as 15.
The dead, majority believed to be of Somali origin, were bundled in the lorry loaded with bags of beans and groundnuts, said the TV.
The incident took place on the Pedicle Road which Zambia and DR Congo shared.
Copperbelt Police Commissioner Charity Katanga said four people travelling on a Zambian registered lorry were among the dead.
Alert Congolese officials intercepted the lorry 20km from the Levy Mwanawasa Bridge in Chembe, after they heard desperate bangs that were coming from the passengers.
State TV interviewed a witness, Mr Humphrey Kapapula, who said at least 15 Somali nationals were suspected to have died.
Some 100 people were believed to have been coming from “Tanzania in a suspected human trafficking case”, he said.
The driver of the truck was under detention.
According to survivor accounts, the people were picked from Kasama District, but the lorry had no ventilation, making some of the passengers to suffocate.
Social media was awash with pictures of half naked bodies strewn on the ground.
