New Delhi, Aug. 12 -- HARARE - When the ferry Mbuya Nehanda slipped beneath the surface of Lake Kariba on Monday evening, it took with it the sister and at least fifteen relatives of a Zimbabwean member of parliament, whose name officials have declined to release. They were among the 44 people confirmed dead by Tuesday morning, a number officials warned was likely to rise.

The vessel capsized shortly after departing the Binga district on Zimbabwe's southeastern shore, overcrowded by roughly double its certified passenger limit, according to Zimbabwe's Civil Protection Unit. The lake, one of the largest reservoirs by volume in the world and among the most treacherous bodies of water in southern Africa, offers no mercy to a vessel riding l...