At least 15 people were killed after a ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, officials said on Wednesday, with 27 others still missing and 77 survivors rescued.
There were conflicting figures on the number of passengers who were on the boat, with Zimbabwe’s Civil Protection Unit (CPU) saying the ferry had 114 adult passengers on board while officials from the organisation that operate the vessel put the figure at 153 people. There were five crew members.
The CPU said the death toll and missing figures could be higher because there may have been an unknown number of children who were not covered by ticketing requirements.
The ferry is understood to have had a carrying capacity of 90 people and the CPU called for the incident to be declared a national emergency.
Zimbabwe police said the vessel capsized on Lake Kariba, which forms part of the country’s northern border with Zambia. The two countries share the lake, with the border running through its middle.
Rescue teams, supported by an underwater search unit, recovered survivors from the water and took them to Long Island where they were transferred to CPU vessels for transport to land.
Lake Kariba is the world’s largest man-made lake by volume, extending about 200 km in length and up to 40 km in width.
JN/APA