Zimbabwe police said Wednesday they had arrested a district official on criminal charges of culpable homicide after the sinking of a government-run ferry that claimed at least 97 lives.

The ageing and overloaded passenger ferry, a vital transport link for rural communities, capsized in bad weather and rough waters on August 11 on the vast Lake Kariba on the border with Zambia.

Police have said 97 bodies were recovered, including those of at least 30 children under 10. Seventy-seven people were rescued.

The Rural Infrastructure Development Agency vessel had a capacity for 90 passengers, according to authorities.

The 49-year-old Kariba RIDA district coordinator who was arrested had already appeared in court, police said in a statement.

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

AFP

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