Zimbabwe ferry death toll rises to 80 after Lake Kariba capsizing

The death toll after a ferry capsized on Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba this week has risen to 80 after more bodies were recovered on Sunday, the police said.

The overloaded passenger ferry run by the government's Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) overturned on Tuesday in choppy waters.

Officials say the boat was authorised to carry 90 people but was packed with 114 adults, five crew members and an unspecified number of children.

The civil protection unit said on Wednesday that 77 people were rescued.

Dozens of mourners gathered for an emotional service on Thursday in the lakeside town of Kariba, around 400 kilometres (250 miles) west of the capital Harare, before the bodies were buried.

Survivors said they pleaded with the ferry driver to turn back in the rough waters as the vessel had begun taking on water soon after departing.

Locals told AFP that such accidents on the lake were rare.

Lake Kariba straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia and is the world's largest man-made lake by volume.