{"id":42424,"date":"2026-08-13T16:17:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=42424"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:18:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:18:04","slug":"mourners-gather-in-zimbabwe-after-overcrowded-ferry-capsizes","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/mourners-gather-in-zimbabwe-after-overcrowded-ferry-capsizes\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourners gather in Zimbabwe after overcrowded ferry capsizes \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A memorial service took place at Nyamhunga Stadium in Kariba town as Zimbabwe mourns the victims of a tragic ferry capsize that has claimed at least 44 lives.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The vessel overturned on Lake Kariba near Long Island on Tuesday after being hit by strong waves in bad weather. Official records show the government-operated ferry was carrying at least 119 documented passengers and crew members, well exceeding its 90-person capacity limit, alongside an uncounted number of children.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Police divers, military units, and national park helicopters have rescued 77 survivors, while search and recovery operations remain underway for those still unaccounted for in the water.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In response to the tragedy, Zimbabwe declared a State of Disaster, allowing emergency authorities to deploy additional search resources and deliver humanitarian relief to the affected families.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":42425,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-42424","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Zimbabwe declares State of Disaster following fatal Lake Kariba ferry overturn","published_date":"2026-08-13 16:15:19","news_description":"Zimbabwe declares State of Disaster following fatal Lake Kariba ferry overturn","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42426,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/42424\/revisions\/42426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=42424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}