At least 44 people are dead and an unknown number are still missing a day after a crowded ferry overturned in Zimbabwe’s Lake Kariba, the country’s president said on Wednesday.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound sadness that I learned of the tragic capsizing,” said Emmerson Mnangagwa, president of Zimbabwe, in a statement on Wednesday about the accident, which occurred on Tuesday and has raised questions about the ferry’s safety and operations.
He thanked private citizens and government security teams, noting that “without their swift response, many more lives would have been lost in the rough and choppy conditions which obtained on the lake on the day.”
While dozens of people have been rescued — at least 67, the Zimbabwe police said — the search for more missing continued through Wednesday and will resume on Thursday.
Still, just how many passengers may have been on board the ferry when it capsized is unclear, the authorities say. There are indications that the vessel was packed well beyond its designated capacity, the police noted.
The ferry was run by the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency, a quasi-governmental department tasked with the development and maintenance of infrastructure, water supplies, roads services and more. The boat had an official capacity of 90 passengers, excluding crew, but initial indications suggested there were about 120 passengers on the vessel when it overturned, according to the national police.
Based on their investigations, the police suspect the true number could have been even higher, officials said.
The vessel left from the resort town of Kariba and was headed to Chalala, a remote fishing camp on the shores of Lake Kariba, which is the world’s largest man-made lake by volume. According to a declaration of disaster by the president, it capsized after being struck by strong waves while navigating near Long Island, an island about 10 miles from Kariba.
The Department of Civil Protection is coordinating a search and rescue response with the national police’s underwater unit, the Zimbabwe National Army Boat Squadron, local authorities and others. A privately owned helicopter from the Matusadonha Conservation Trust, a national park, has also been deployed to support aerial search efforts, according to the presidential declaration.
Zimbabwe’s public broadcaster said on Wednesday evening that search and rescue operations had stopped for the night and would resume again on Thursday, with divers concerned that there were still people trapped inside the capsized ferry. It said that there are plans to tow the ferry to a nearby island.
“This tragedy has exposed serious deficiencies in our maritime capabilities which we have to address immediately so that our places of recreation do not become death traps to the innocent,” Mr. Mnangagwa said, in an apparent reference to the ferry being overcrowded. And he directed all agencies associated with maritime safety, including specialized units within the security forces, “to take an active interest in ensuring remedial interventions” in light of Tuesday’s accident.
Mr. Mnangagwa called on Zimbabweans to “unite in prayer for the souls of the departed, for the success of the ongoing search operations, speedy recovery of survivors and for comfort and strength for the bereaved families.”
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