At least 26 people, most of them children, died when a crowded boat capsized in Zambia while on the way to a national celebration, ABC News quoted a police official as saying on Saturday.
Among the drowned in Friday's accident were school children aged from six to 15 years, as well as a baby. The state broadcaster said 23 of those who died were children. One student survived.
They were travelling to another school across Lake Kariba, in the south of the country, where they were meant to participate in celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the southern African nation's independence from Britain.
"The death of these people is disheartening, more so that they were travelling for a national cause. They are true heroes", Joseph Katema, a government spokesman, said on Saturday.