At least 37 dead after ferry capsizes in Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba

The number of deaths after a ferry capsized on a huge lake in Zimbabwe has risen to 37, officials have said.

Zimbabwe's ‌The Herald ​newspaper cited a senior local ​official ‌as saying ​that 24 more ​bodies ⁠had been retrieved ⁠from Lake ‌Kariba.

The number of deaths had previously been recorded at 15 by officials. The southern African country's national disaster management agency said 77 people had been rescued and 27 were still missing.

Zimbabwe's Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said in a statement that 114 adult passengers were on board, which it said was confirmed through ticket sales, along with five crew members.

There may also have been an unknown number of children below the age at which tickets are needed.

The boat has a carrying capacity of 90 people, the agency said, calling for the incident to be declared a national emergency.

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Earlier, Zimbabwe police said the boat had 90 people on board when it capsized on the lake, which forms part of Zimbabwe's northern border with Zambia.

Those pulled out of the water by rescue teams, supported by an underwater search unit, have been taken to Long Island, a small island on the lake.

From there, they are being brought to land on CPU vessels.

Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world by volume, measuring 124 miles (200km) long and up to 25 miles (40km) wide in places.

It was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by building a dam wall to block the Zambezi River, resulting in a valley slowly filling with water to form a huge lake.

(c) Sky News 2026: At least 37 dead after ferry capsizes in Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba