At least 15 people were killed and 27 remained missing after an overloaded ferry capsized Tuesday on Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba, the country’s national disaster management agency said.
The agency said 77 people were rescued after making their way to a small island on the lake. Boats were being dispatched to bring the survivors to safety as search and rescue operations continued.
Zimbabwe’s Civil Protection Unit said ticket records showed that 114 adults were aboard the ferry, along with five crew members. The vessel had a stated capacity of 90 people.
However, officials warned that an unknown number of children below the ticketing age may have been aboard but were not included in the passenger count.
The Civil Protection Unit recommended that the incident be officially declared a disaster.
Rescue operations underway
Zimbabwe’s state broadcaster, ZBC, released video showing speedboats heading toward what appeared to be an overturned ferry while a helicopter hovered above the area.
An underwater search-and-rescue team was also deployed to Lake Kariba to assist with the operation.
Earlier, Zimbabwean police confirmed that a rescue operation was underway but provided few details about the number of casualties or missing passengers.
Mutsa Murombedzi, a local member of Parliament, shared a video she said showed people on the shore waving goodbye to the aging ferry as it began its journey.
She said rural communities rely on the boat to travel across the lake to the town of Kariba, a journey that typically takes about five hours.
According to Murombedzi, some people on the shore expressed concern about whether the ferry would be able to withstand strong waves on the lake.
Lake Kariba, in southern Africa, is shared by Zimbabwe and neighboring Zambia. The official border between the two countries runs through the center of the lake.
The lake is the world’s largest man-made lake by volume. It was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s after a dam was built across the Zambezi River, causing the valley to gradually fill with water.
Today, Lake Kariba stretches for more than 200 kilometers (124 miles) and reaches widths of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) in some areas.
The ferry disaster has prompted a major search-and-rescue operation as authorities work to locate the 27 people still missing and determine the full number of passengers aboard when the vessel capsized.