From CHALI MULENGA in Livingstone and CHOMBA MUSIKA in Choma
TWO workers of a construction company have died after a trench they were digging caved in on them in Livingstone yesterday.
The third person has survived the incident on Macha Road near Batoka Hospital roundabout.
Police and Livingstone Fire Brigade, who rushed to the scene, have confirmed the death of Chishimba Mukuka, 30, and Maurice Namaambo, 28, who were working at the site of the construction company.
Livingstone district commanding officer Joseph Chitambo confirmed the incident yesterday.
“They were digging about three metres deep. The soils are quite weak. As a result, the walls collapsed. We lost two lives from the three people that were trapped by the soils,” he said.
Livingstone acting chief fire officer Elvis Machokwende also confirmed the accident and said officers rushed to the scene around 09:00 hours after receiving an alert for help.
The incident happened around 08:50 hours and the fire brigade was informed at 09:00 hours.
“The two people were pronounced dead at Livingstone General Hospital and the third person has sustained injuries on the neck but is stable,” he said.
Mukuka and Namaambo’s bodies are in the Livingstone General Hospital mortuary.
Mr Machokwende identified the survivor as Obvious Mukoya, 25, who is admitted to Livingstone General Hospital.
Some workers at the scene bemoaned the lack of safety standards at the site despite requests that the company addresses the situation.
And there was tension when Minister of Labour and Social Security Fackson Shamenda visited the accident scene.
A site supervisor only identified as Frank refused to talk to the the minister and remained in his car, saying he was not ready to say anything.
This prompted Mr Shamenda to tell Frank that he would be forced to order someone to remove him from the vehicle and explain what happened.
When Frank came out of the vehicle, he told the minister that he had a phobia for cameras as they make him nervous and asked a Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) crew to turn off the camera.
“I will not talk until they turn off the camera. I am not ready to give an interview, the camera makes me uncomfortable. I will not say anything because I have already given my statement to the police,” he said.
Frank then told the minister that he received information about the accident when he was having a meeting with a consultant.
Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Security Rayford Mbulu told the Chinese contractor to have regard for the minister.
“This man you see here is not a simple man, so you need to have regard for him. You should know that he is here to help,” he said.
Mr Shamenda said there is need to hire people that are experienced when works deepen.
The minister advised workers against going into areas that are not safe to avoid accidents.
Mr Shamenda also visited the survivor at the hospital.
And Mr Frank promised to compensate families of the workers that died and pledged that the company would prevent such accidents in future.
And a 17-year-old boy of Choma’s Zambia township has died after allegedly being beaten by his father.
Southern Province commissioner of police Mary Chikwanda confirmed the incident yesterday and identified the boy as Bwalya Mulenga.
Ms Chikwanda said the incident happened on Tuesday and named the boy’s father as Joseph Walela, who is believed to have been “chastising” the juvenile, who later died at Choma General Hospital.
She said the boy was taken to Choma Police Station in an unconscious state by his brother and “the police rushed the juvenile to Choma General Hospital where he later died”.
Ms Chikwanda said police instituted investigations into the matter which led to the arrest of Mr Walela, who was on the run.