FOUR MISSING IN LAKE KARIBA
‘. . . BOAT SWEPT OVER BY WAVE’
A BOAT which was sailing from Nyaodza Fishing Camp to Lake Harvest Harbour in Kariba town with eight passengers, capsized in the wee hours of Thursday morning, killing one person while three survived and four others remain unaccounted for.
The incident occurred near Ndomo Fishing Camp.
The boat owner and two soldiers were among those who were rescued while one of their colleagues is among the four still missing.
A man and his four-year-old child are among the missing.
An eyewitness, who together with his three colleagues helped rescue some of the victims, Chenjerai Zambezi, said the boat capsized after being hit by a raging wave in Lake Kariba.
Zambezi said the boat capsized around 4am. “The boat had eight passengers on board. They were travelling during the night when heavy winds rocked the lake resulting in a big wave hitting the boat which capsized with all its passengers.”
He added: “Five people went under. We heard some people screaming and asking for help as the boat was a stone’s throw away from our fishing camp at Gachekache.
“We reacted swiftly and took an engine boat and headed towards the direction of the screams.
“We managed to rescue three people,” said Zambezi.
He said early Friday morning, they managed to retrieve some luggage and the body of a woman which was floating in the lake.
“So there are still four people who are missing. Some members of the police sub aqua unit came but they could not do anything because no one knows the exact place where the boat capsized.
“Those that were rescued were drifted by the wind. That is how they managed to survive. Today (yesterday) we want to go back into the lake to search for the other missing people but we are being hampered by the heavy winds,” said Zambezi.
A Harare man who lost his wife in the tragedy said he was still in a state of shock and devastated.
Ignatius Madhuve told H-Metro that he was devastated by the tragedy.
Madhuve said his wife had gone to Kariba as she usually does on her business trips.
“I was not there when the incident happened. I am in Harare. I lost my wife in the boat that capsized. She would go to Kariba for business,” said Madhuve. He said they were yet to make funeral arrangements as they were waiting for other relatives to come to Harare.
“We are yet to make funeral arrangements as we are waiting for our elders to arrive from the rural areas,” said Madhuve.
The owner of the boat, Clever Muvengwa, who was also in the boat, said all was well before a strong wave hit the boat resulting in it capsizing.
Members of the Zimbabwe National Army ZNA who had life jackets on, after realising that the boat was filling with water, jumped into the lake and started swimming to safety.
“We were sailing smoothly before tragedy struck,” said Muvengwa.
However, it is suspected that the boat capsized due to the overwhelming weight of both the passengers and luggage as it was loaded over its carrying capacity.
Members of the police sub aqua unit and ZNA Boat Squadron are leading the rescue team.
By the time of going to print, the quartet was still to be accounted for.