Officials said rescue operations were continuing after a boat carrying dozens of people capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe on Tuesday.
The national disaster management agency in the southern African country said 77 people had been rescued.
The vessel capsized with 90 passengers and five crew members onboard, but may have been overloaded, with other reports suggesting a higher number based on the registered ticket sales. Police said.
Police said the vessel was overturned by a strong wave. Footage shared online seems to show the hull floating in the water.
Lake Kariba, on the border with Zambia, is one of the world’s largest man-made reservoirs, supporting transportation and fishing and providing vital hydroelectric power to both countries.
The Zimbabwe Civil Protection Unit, CPU, said registered ticket sales indicated that 114 adults were on board. An unknown number of children under ticketing age could also have been there, it added.
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Local MP Mutsa Murombedzi posted a video on X of what she said was the boat at the start of the journey, adding that residents had been using it to travel across the lake to Kariba town, a journey approximately five hours.
“We have very hard questions that need honest answers. “The officials have to release the right number of people who were onboard,” she wrote.
The CPU said 77 passengers had been rescued so far and 15 bodies had been recovered.
It said two funeral parlors were collecting the bodies
The rescue teams, with the help of an underwater search unit, have taken those rescued from the water to Long Island, a small island on the lake.