ZIMBABWE - Authorities retrieved 25 bodies from Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba on Saturday to take the death toll from last week's ferry capsizing to 72, police said, as the search continued for victims.
The overloaded passenger ferry run by the government's Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) overturned in choppy waters on Tuesday in a rare accident on the vast lake on the border with Zambia. It is believed to be the country's deadliest such disaster. "The Kariba RIDA boat accident death toll is now 72 after the recovery of 3 more bodies on the 15th of August," the police said in a statement. "Meanwhile the identification of the bodies recovered today is in progress," the statement added. Saturday, the police announced a jump in the toll to 68 after the recovery of 22 more bodies. They gave no details of the new victims, but most of the passengers on the vessel were villagers and fish traders who lived around the lake. 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. The civil protection unit said on Wednesday that 77 people had been rescued. (Bssnews)
