At least 44 people are dead after an overloaded government ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, police said Wednesday. The bodies were retrieved from the lake, which forms part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
The ferry was carrying at least 114 adult passengers and five crew members when it capsized on Tuesday, according to Zimbabwe's disaster management agency. Its stated carrying capacity was 90 people. Authorities rescued 77 people, but the final number of passengers remained uncertain because the count only included ticketed adults. Children below ticketing age may also have been on board. State broadcaster ZBC reported that children were among the dead.
Police said on X that they had not updated figures for how many people remained injured or missing.
A local member of Parliament, Mutsa Murombedzi, posted a video Tuesday showing people on shore waving at the ferry as it began its journey. According to the video, some of those onshore were expressing concern about whether the aging vessel could handle strong waves.
Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world by volume. It was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s when a dam was built on the Zambezi River. The lake stretches more than 200 kilometers long and up to 40 kilometers wide in places. The ferry is used regularly to transport people from rural communities around the lake to the town of Kariba on the shore.
