Until recently, thisimpoverishedsouthernAfricancountryof 16m people, stretched out along the shores of LakeMalawi, was a darling of internationaldonors.
Police spokesman Oliver Soko said a massive joint police and MalawiLake Services rescue operation is underway around Chipoka Harbour where the overloaded boat capsized.
LakeMalawi, also called Lake Nyasa, is the second deepest body of freshwater in Africa and one of the deepest in the world, reaching a depth of 706 meters.
LakeMalawi is a UNESCO World Heritage site and UNESCO says the lake's importance for studying the evolution of fish is comparable with finches in the Galapagos Islands.