44 PEOPLE DROWN IN FERRY CAPSIZING

HARARE, AUGUST 12 /SRNA/ - The death toll from the ferry capsizing on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe has risen to 44, police said.

The statement said that the bodies had been recovered from the lake, which forms part of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.

It did not say how many people were injured or remained missing after Tuesday’s ferry disaster involving a vessel operated by a government agency.

The ferry capsized while carrying at least 114 adult passengers and five crew members, the disaster management agency said earlier, adding that 77 people had been rescued.

According to authorities, the ferry had a capacity of 90 people and was used to transport people from rural communities around the lake to the town of Kariba on its shores.

Kariba is the world’s largest artificial lake by volume, created in the late 1950s and early 1960s following the construction of a dam on the Zambezi River.

The lake is now more than 200 kilometres long and, in some places, up to 40 kilometres wide.