Rescuers working the cold waters of Lake Kariba have pulled 25 more bodies from the vast reservoir, pushing the death toll from Tuesday’s ferry capsizing to 72 as the search presses on, police said.
The passenger ferry — overloaded and operated by the government’s Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) — flipped in choppy conditions on the huge lake that lies along the Zimbabwe-Zambia border, in what authorities described as a rare accident on the waterway.
Officials believe it is the country’s deadliest disaster of its kind.
“The Kariba RIDA boat accident death toll is now 72 after the recovery of 3 more bodies late on the 15 August 2026,” the police said in a statement late last night.
“Meanwhile the identification of the bodies recovered today is in progress,” the statement added.
A general view of Lake Kariba shorty after the Thursday memorial service was held
Police had earlier yesterday reported that the toll had climbed to 68 after 22 additional bodies were recovered.
Authorities did not release details about the latest victims, but they said the ferry’s passengers were largely villagers and fish traders from communities around the lake.
Officials say the vessel was authorised to carry 90 people, yet it left port with 114 adults, five crew members and an unspecified number of children on board.
The civil protection unit said on Wednesday that 77 people had been rescued.
Identifying bodies
At the district hospital in Kariba — the lakeside town at the centre of the tragedy — hundreds of people gathered yesterday in an effort to identify relatives and loved ones, according to Zimpapers media, which posted footage on X showing long queues.
“So far today we have managed to take 22 bodies,” said Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Muchechesi, commander of the boat regiment taking part in the search operation.
“We are confident that we will manage to retrieve all the bodies,” he said, explaining that winter’s cold was slowing the process as bodies took longer to rise to the surface.
An emotional public memorial service was held in Kariba on Thursday — nearly 280 kilometres northwest of the capital, Harare — before burials began.
A coffin with the body of a victim of the capsized ferry leaves the Kariba Hospital mortuary on Thursday
Survivors said they had urged the ferry driver to turn back after the boat began taking on water shortly after departure.
One survivor, speaking on Thursday, described watching helplessly as passengers fought to stay alive when the vessel went under — a moment that claimed his best friend and seven relatives.
“Thank God that a wave pushed the sinking vessel and we managed to climb on top,” Chance Siyamavhu said at the memorial service.
“When the boat capsized, most of the people scrambled to get the life jackets but most of them did not even know how to use them,” the 45-year-old said. “Most people could not make it.”
Lake Kariba, which straddles Zimbabwe and Zambia, is the world’s largest man-made lake by volume.
