At least 44 people have died after a ferry sank on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, police have said.
The ferry had a capacity to carry 90 passengers and five crew members but a lake official had reported that 120 people, including 12 children, were on it.
The vessel was hit by a strong wave and overturned, police added. Footage shared online appears to show the overturned hull floating in the water.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared a state of disaster, as search and rescue operations intensify. So far, 77 people have been rescued.
Lake Kariba, which straddles the border with Zambia, is one of the world's largest man-made reservoirs, supporting transport and fishing and providing vital hydroelectric power to both countries.
An eyewitness, Maxton Kanhema, told AFP news agency that the boat had travelled in bad weather and may have been hit by a wave, causing its engines to switch off.=
"People were in distress... there were bodies in the water and it was a sad situation to witness. Those that could be rescued were rescued," he was quoted as saying.
Mutsa Murombedzi, a local member of parliament, posted a video on X of what she said was the boat at the start of the journey, adding that residents had been travelling across the lake to Kariba town, about five hours away.
"We have very hard questions that require honest answers. The officials must release the correct number of people who were onboard," she wrote.
Map of southern Africa highlighting Lake Kariba, which lies along the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Nearby locations marked include Kariba town, which is situated at the north east end of the lake, Zambia’s capital Lusaka to the north and Zimbabwe’s capital Harare to the east. An inset map shows the lake's position within Africa.
The Zimbabwe Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said that registered ticket sales showed 114 adult passengers were on the vessel. An unknown number of children below ticketing age could also have been onboard, it added.
In its latest update on X, police said that 44 bodies had now been retrieved from the lake - up from the initial 15.
Local government minister Daniel Garwe said the president had declared a state of disaster to ensure "all necessary resources are mobilised" for search and rescue operations.
This included an army boat squadron, a police sub-aqua unit and a privately owned helicopter, he said.
"The government extends its deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in this tragic incident," Garwe added in a statement.
Mutsa Murombedzi, a local member of Parliament, posted a video of what she said were people on shore waving off what appeared to be the ageing ferry at the start of its journey. She said rural communities use the boat to travel along the lake to the town of Kariba.
Some people standing on the shore were also concerned if the ferry would survive strong waves on the lake, according to the video. Earlier, Zimbabwe police said a rescue operation was under way but did not give any other details.
Zimbabwean state broadcaster ZBC published video of speedboats making their way to what appeared to be an overturned boat on the lake as a helicopter hovered overhead.Lake Kariba in southern Africa forms part of the border between Zimbabwe and neighbour Zambia.
It is the largest man-made lake in the world by volume and 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 that’s now more than 200 km long and up to 40 km wide in places.
Zimbabwe and Zambia share the lake, with the official border between them in the middle of it.
