Zimbabwe ferry capsize death toll climbs to 80
The death toll from this week's ferry capsizing on Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba has risen to 80 after eight more bodies were recovered on Sunday, police said, making it believed to be the country's deadliest such disaster.
Zimbabwean police said eight additional bodies were recovered from Lake Kariba on Sunday, August 16, bringing the total death toll from this week's ferry accident to 80. The disaster occurred on Tuesday when an overloaded passenger ferry operated by the government's Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) capsized in rough waters on the vast lake bordering Zambia.
Search teams had recovered 25 bodies on Saturday, raising the toll to 72 at that point. Police did not release details about the latest victims but noted that most passengers were villagers and fish traders who lived around the lake, many hailing from the Chalala fishing camp.
According to officials, the ferry was authorised to carry 90 people but was overloaded with 114 adults, five crew members, and an unspecified number of children. The civil protection unit reported on Wednesday that 77 people had been rescued. Combined with the 80 recovered bodies, this suggests the vessel may have been carrying around 157 people in total.
Officials have not disclosed how many children were among the dead. The accident is believed to be the deadliest of its kind in Zimbabwe's history.
A vital rural link
The ferry served as an essential connection for rural communities living around the lake to the town of Kariba, located roughly 280 kilometres (175 miles) northwest of the capital, Harare. On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered at the district hospital in Kariba to identify the bodies of relatives and loved ones.
