CNN
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Rescuers have recovered six more bodies from a river in southern Malawi, days after a boat carrying some 37 people capsized overturned by a hippo on Monday.
Police spokeswoman Agnes Zalakoma said bodies were recovered from the Shire River in Malawi’s Nsanje district on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to seven.
The first 13 people were rescued but 17 are still missing and on Monday the body of a one-year-old boy was pulled out of the river, which Zalacoma said was infested with crocodiles and hippos.
He said the age of those found dead ranged from 17 to 51.
MLA from Nsanje District, Gladys Rhinocerossaid the villagers were crossing the Shire River to get to their farms on the Malawian border with Mozambique when the boat they were traveling in was struck by hippos.
Police spokeswoman Jalakoma previously told CNN that accidents are common on the river.
“It is very dangerous because it (Shire River) is very shallow and in this river, there are crocodiles which attack people most of the time and also there are hippos which cause incidents like the ones we are dealing with,” he said .
He said that the search for the missing people is on.
The area has seen tragic boat accidents in the past as well. Jalakoma told CNN that in January, a canoe carrying 15 people capsized in the Shire River after hitting a tree trunk, killing one person and leaving six others missing and feared dead.