Twenty-two more bodies recovered after Zimbabwe boat accident, death toll rises to 68
Rescuers in Zimbabwe have recovered 22 more bodies following Tuesday's ferry capsize on Lake Kariba, bringing the death toll to 68 in what is believed to be the country's deadliest such disaster.
Rescue teams in Zimbabwe recovered 22 more bodies on Saturday from a ferry that capsized on Lake Kariba, raising the death toll to 68, police said. Eighteen children are among the dead.
The vessel overturned on Tuesday amid heavy winds on the lake, which sits on the border with Zambia. An investigation has indicated the ferry was overloaded at the time of the accident. Although authorised to carry 90 people, it was reportedly carrying 114 adults, five crew members and an unspecified number of children.
Most of those on board are believed to have been villagers and fish traders living around the lake.
Lt Col Joseph Muchechesi, commander of the boat regiment leading the search operation, said 22 bodies had been recovered on Saturday alone and expressed confidence that all victims would eventually be found. The civil protection unit reported on Wednesday that 77 people had been rescued.
Hundreds of relatives gathered at the district hospital in the town of Kariba to identify their loved ones, and a public memorial service was held on Thursday before burials began.
Survivors said they had urged the driver to turn back after the boat began taking on water shortly after departure. One survivor, 45-year-old Chance Siyamavhu, told Agence France-Presse that a wave had pushed the sinking vessel, allowing people to climb on top of it, though many did not know how to properly use the available life jackets.
Lake Kariba is the world's largest manmade lake by volume, created in the 1950s when the Zambezi River was dammed under British colonial rule, displacing roughly 57,000 people at the time. Similar tragedies have occurred there before: 26 people died in Zambia's part of the lake in 2014, and five drowned on the Zimbabwean side in 2021.
