HARARE, Zimbabwe — Authorities on Sunday searched for more bodies from an overloaded ferry that capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe last week as the death toll in the disaster rose to 84. The ferry capsized in strong waves Tuesday. Police said Sunday that the death toll had risen by 12 from the previous day as more bodies were recovered. Zimbabwe’s disaster management agency has said 77 people were rescued.Estimates had put the number of passengers as high as 153 on a ferry authorized to carry 90 people, but the latest official figures now suggest the number of passengers could be even higher.Police in the southern African country said “search efforts are still underway in a bid to recover victims identified as missing.”The aging ferry was traveling from the town of Kariba to rural and fishing communities in the country’s northwest, where roads are damaged and public transportation is scarce.Among the dead are at least 18 children, with the youngest a 1-year-old. According to police, 16 of the victims were 10 or younger.Kariba is the world’s largest human-made lake by volume, created by damming the Zambezi River in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It stretches more than 125 miles and is up to 25 miles wide in places.Zimbabwe and Zambia share the lake, with their border running through its middle.Mutsaka writes for the Associated Press.
