Zimbabwean police have arrested a district official over the sinking of a government-run ferry on Lake Kariba that killed at least 97 people, including dozens of children.
The 49-year-old Kariba district coordinator of the Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (RIDA) was arrested on a criminal charge of culpable homicide and has already appeared in court, police said on Wednesday.
The ageing and overloaded passenger ferry, which served as a vital transport link for rural communities, capsized on August 11 amid bad weather and rough waters on the vast Lake Kariba, which straddles the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
Authorities said 97 bodies had been recovered, including at least 30 children under the age of 10, while 77 people were rescued.
The RIDA-operated vessel had a passenger capacity of 90, according to officials, raising concerns about possible overloading and safety failures.
Lake Kariba is one of the world’s largest man-made lakes by volume and remains a major transport route for communities living around its shores.
