At least 44 people have died after an overloaded passenger ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, police said on Wednesday, sharply raising the death toll from earlier estimates.
The vessel overturned on Tuesday while crossing the lake, which lies along Zimbabwe’s border with Zambia. Police said preliminary investigations indicated that the boat was carrying far more passengers than it was designed for when it encountered heavy winds.
Authorities said the ferry had a capacity of 90 passengers, but more than 120 people may have been on board at the time of the accident.
The death toll rose as rescue teams recovered additional bodies following the capsizing.
At least 67 people have been rescued and taken to a nearby primary school, where they are receiving medical attention, according to police.
Search and recovery efforts are continuing as authorities work to establish the exact number of people who were on board and investigate the circumstances surrounding the disaster.
Lake Kariba, one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, is used extensively for fishing and passenger transport between communities along the Zimbabwe-Zambia border.