The death toll from a boat accident in Zimbabwe has risen to 68 after 22 more bodies were recovered from Lake Kariba, police announced on Saturday. The ferry capsized on Tuesday during heavy winds, and an investigation has suggested it was overloaded when it turned over.
Eighteen children were among the people killed in the disaster, which is believed to be the country’s deadliest such incident. Most of the passengers are thought to be villagers and fish traders who lived around the lake. The vessel was authorized to carry 90 people but was packed with 114 adults, five crew members, and an unspecified number of children.
Lt Col Joseph Muchechesi, commander of the boat regiment involved in the search operation, expressed confidence that all bodies would be retrieved. The civil protection unit reported that 77 people had been rescued, and hundreds of people gathered at the district hospital in Kariba to identify the bodies of their relatives and loved ones.
A public memorial service was held in Kariba, nearly 280km northwest of the capital Harare, before the burials started. Survivors described the chaotic scene as the vessel began taking on water soon after departing, with many people scrambling to get lifejackets but not knowing how to use them.
Lake Kariba, the world’s largest manmade lake by volume, has a history of such incidents. In 2014, 26 people, including 24 children, drowned in Zambia’s part of the lake when a boat capsized, and in 2021, five passengers drowned in a similar incident on the Zimbabwean side.
The tragedy has prompted President Emmerson Mnangagwa to declare a state of disaster and order government agencies to mobilize resources to assist victims and accelerate recovery efforts. He acknowledged that the incident had exposed serious deficiencies in the country’s maritime capabilities, which need to be addressed immediately.
