By Naledi Nyoni
HARARE — Dozens of people are feared dead after the Mbuya Nehanda ferry, which connects Kariba town with rural communities in Mashonaland West, capsized on Lake Kariba on Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the ferry, which they described as owned by “DDF” — now known as the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) — was carrying 90 passengers and five crew members.
But conflicting figures emerged as rescue teams searched for survivors, with an incident report circulated on RIDA’s WhatsApp group saying 114 adult passengers had boarded, alongside five crew members and an undisclosed number of children below ticketing age.
The ferry has a stated carrying capacity of 90 people.
The RIDA report said 77 passengers had been rescued alive and 15 bodies recovered from the lake, leaving at least 27 people unaccounted for based on those figures.
Video footage showed the overturned ferry in the lake as a helicopter flew overhead, apparently searching for survivors.
Life jackets could be seen floating on the water. Another video appeared to show the body of a child who had drowned.
National police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi initially said: “The ZRP reports that a DDF boat with 90 people and five crew members has capsized in Lake Kariba.
Rescue efforts are currently underway. More details on the situation will be released in due course.”
Police later urged the public not to circulate casualty figures before they had been verified.
“The ZRP and the government authorities” should be allowed to manage the situation professionally “without interference or distortion of figures”, Nyathi said.
A video reposted by Mashonaland West MP Mutsa Murombedzi, allegedly showing the ferry before the disaster, captured voices discussing what was described as the “Binga Wave” — a powerful wave known in the area for its ability to beach boats.
Binga, in the Zambezi Valley near the Zambian border, is also connected to Lake Kariba.
Brenda Gray Javis, who works in the area, said on Facebook that a warning had been issued earlier on Tuesday advising boats against sailing because of dangerous waves.
“This incident has nothing to do with the age of the boat,” she wrote, claiming the ferry had ignored the warning before being hit by a large wave.
The cause of the disaster had not been officially established by Tuesday night.
Investigators are expected to examine the ferry’s maintenance history amid claims that the vessel has been in service since the 1980s.
They will also look into whether the ferry was overloaded, whether passengers had adequate life jackets and whether safety procedures were followed amid hazardous conditions on the lake.
The rescue operation was continuing late Tuesday as authorities worked to establish the final number of people aboard the ferry and the scale of the disaster.
