KARIBA boat operators have been warned against overloading their vessels following a series of accidents on the continent’s largest manmade lake.
A Water and Inland Department official, lake captain Adan Nyekete yesterday told NewsDay that boat overloading had become a concern in Lake Kariba.
Three people died in Lake Kariba last year, while several boat accidents were recorded during the same year.
“As a department we are very concerned about the issue of overloading. We condemn the practice whether in small or big boats operating in Kariba and the law shall take its course on all operators not operating under stipulated guidelines,” he said.
The warning follows accidents mainly involving small boats which carry passengers from Kariba urban to fishing camps dotted along the lake shore.
The three people who died in last year’s boat accident near Wafa-Wafa camp were travelling in a boat suspected to have been overloaded with fish when it capsized.
A Kariba man Success Ruzvidzo nearly lost his life after a vessel he was travelling in with his son and two others capsized in the middle of the lake.
The small vessel carrying four people was on its way from Kariba to fishing camps were the four intended to buy fish.