The death toll from last week’s ferry disaster on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba has risen to 94 after the recovery of two additional bodies, police confirmed on Tuesday.
The passenger ferry, which serves as a crucial transport link for rural communities, capsized on August 11 after encountering severe weather and rough waters on the vast lake, which forms part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Police said the victims included 30 children under the age of 10, among them a one-month-old infant.
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Local Government, Daniel Garwe, said preliminary findings indicated that the disaster was caused by negligence and human error on the part of the boat’s captain.
He announced that the government had launched a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the sinking.
According to government officials, the national weather service had issued warnings advising against sailing on the lake on the day of the accident because of dangerous weather conditions.
Authorities said the ferry was licensed to carry a maximum of 90 passengers. However, in addition to the 94 people confirmed dead, 77 survivors were rescued following the capsize, raising questions about whether the vessel had been overloaded.
Lake Kariba, which straddles the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, is the world’s largest man-made lake by volume and is an important transportation route for communities living along its shores.
Rescue and recovery efforts have continued since the accident as authorities work to determine the full circumstances behind one of Zimbabwe’s deadliest maritime disasters in recent years.
