68 perish as ferry capsizes in Zimbabwe

HARARE, ZIMBABWE:

The death toll after a ferry capsized on Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba this week has risen to 68 after more bodies were recovered on Saturday, the police said.

The overloaded passenger ferry run by the government's Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) overturned on Tuesday in choppy waters. The police "advises Zimbabweans and relevant stakeholders that the death toll in the Kariba RIDA boat accident is now 68 following the recovery of 22 bodies" on Saturday, they said in a short statement.

It gave no details, but most of the passengers on the vessel were villagers and fish traders who lived around the lake, which is on the border with Zambia. Officials say the boat was authorised to carry 90 people but was packed with 114 adults, five crew members and an unspecified number of children. AFP