The death toll from a ferry disaster on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba has risen to 68 after rescue teams recovered 22 additional bodies since the vessel capsized on Tuesday. Among the victims are 18 children, according to police reports released on Saturday.
The incident occurred as the aging ferry, which had a capacity of 90 people, was transporting passengers from Kariba town to rural and fishing communities in the country's northwest. The region relies heavily on water transport due to a scarcity of public transit and damaged road infrastructure. While authorities have not confirmed the exact number of people on board, estimates suggest there may have been as many as 153 passengers. Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency has reported that 77 individuals were successfully rescued.
Initial reports indicated that the number of children on board was difficult to determine because passengers below ticketing age were not captured in formal estimates. However, a subsequent police list revealed that 16 of the child victims were aged 10 or younger, with the youngest casualty being only one year old.
The disaster was triggered when the ferry capsized in strong waves. Lake Kariba, which was formed by damming the Zambezi River in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is the world’s largest human-made lake by volume. It spans more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) in length and reaches widths of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) in certain areas.
