Zimbabwe mourns 46 ferry victims as overloaded vessel capsizes on Lake Kariba

Mourners gathered in the Zimbabwean town of Kariba on Thursday to bury dozens of people who died when an overloaded ferry capsized on Lake Kariba earlier this week. Police confirmed the death toll has risen to 46.

At Nyamhunga Stadium, coffins were placed under tents on the field as cabinet ministers and grieving families paid their respects. The ferry went down on Tuesday while travelling from Kariba town to rural communities and fishing camps, where residents depend on the vessel for transport because roads are damaged and public transport is scarce.

Authorities have not yet given an official count of how many people were aboard or how many remain missing. Estimates suggest as many as 153 passengers were on the aging ferry, which has a stated capacity of 90. The country's disaster management agency said 77 people had been rescued.

Among the mourners was Collen Ndandalika, who lost his wife and three children. Two of his children have been recovered, but his wife and another child are still missing. His wife had taken the children along to help sell goods in rural communities during the school holidays.

The disaster has sparked criticism over the continued use of the old ferry and what some survivors described as a delayed rescue response. Survivors said they pleaded with the captain to turn back because of strong waves shortly before the vessel capsized.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa declared a state of disaster and ordered government agencies to mobilise resources for victims and recovery efforts. He acknowledged the tragedy exposed serious deficiencies in the country's maritime capabilities, saying such places should not become "death traps to the innocent."

Lake Kariba, the world's largest human-made lake by volume, was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by damming the Zambezi River. It stretches more than 200 kilometres long and up to 40 kilometres wide in places.