District official charged with homicide over ferry disaster that killed 97 people
Police in Zimbabwe have arrested a district official charged with culpable homicide over the sinking of a government-run ferry that claimed at least 97 lives.
The 49-year-old district coordinator for the state-run Rural Infrastructure Development Agency has appeared in court and remains in custody, police said on Wednesday.
The overloaded vessel capsized in bad weather on August 11 on Lake Kariba on the border with Zambia.
Estimates put the number of passengers at more than 150 on a ferry authorised to carry just 90 people. At least 30 children under the age of 10 were among the dead. Seventy-seven people were rescued.
Lake Kariba straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. It’s the world’s largest man-made lake by volume.
The ferry serves as a crucial transport link between Kariba town and remote communities.
