At least 15 people have died and another 27 are missing after an overloaded ferry capsized on a huge lake in Zimbabwe, officials have said.

The southern African country's national disaster management agency said 77 people had been rescued.

Zimbabwe's Civil Protection Unit (CPU) said in a statement that 114 adult passengers were on board, which it said was confirmed through ticket sales, along with five crew members.

There may also have been an unknown number of children below the age at which tickets are needed.

The boat has a carrying capacity of 90 people, the agency said, calling for the incident to be declared a national emergency.

Earlier, Zimbabwe police said the boat had 90 people on board when it capsized on the lake, which forms part of Zimbabwe's northern border with Zambia.

Those pulled out of the water by rescue teams, supported by an underwater search unit, have been taken to Long Island, a small island on the lake.

From there, they are being brought to land on CPU vessels.

Zimbabwean state broadcaster ZBC published video of speedboats making their way to what appeared to be an overturned boat on the lake as a helicopter hovered overhead.

Mutsa Murombedzi, a local member of Zimbabwe's parliament, posted a video of what she said were people on shore waving off what appeared to be the ageing ferry at the start of its journey.

She said rural communities use the boat to travel along the lake to the town of Kariba, a journey that usually takes about five hours.

Some people standing on the shore were also concerned if the ferry would survive strong waves on the lake, according to the video.

Pictures purporting to be of the capsized vessel were published online.

Lake Kariba is the largest man-made lake in the world by volume, measuring 124 miles (200km) long and up to 25 miles (40km) wide in places.

Read more:
Thousands without water as heatwave approaches
The Office star's 'incurable' cancer

It was created in the late 1950s and early 1960s by building a dam wall to block the Zambezi River, resulting in a valley slowly filling with water to form a huge lake.

Zimbabwe and Zambia share the lake, with the official border between them in the middle of it.

(c) Sky News 2026: At least 15 dead and dozens missing after ferry capsizes in Zimbabwe's Lake Kariba