IN A heart-wrenching incident, two illegal miners have tragically lost their lives due to suffocation.
The accident occurred on Monday this week at the Moolman Nchanga open pit in Chingola.
Enard Mumba reported that at 16:00 hours yesterday, his fellow illegal miners, Richard Mumba 25 and Muyunda Maketio 25 tragically lost their lives due to suffocation.
Copperbelt Province Police Commanding Officer, Peacewell Mweemba, provided insight into the incident, explaining that both of the deceased individuals had entered the pit to work as illegal miners.
He said while about eight of them were inside the tunnel, a friend outside the tunnel unintentionally collided with a 5-liter container of petrol as he attempted to enter.
Mr Mweemba said the container fell into the tunnel, spilling the petrol and causing the air within the tunnel to become saturated, leading to their suffocation.
He added that their fellow illegal miners managed to retrieve the bodies of Richard Mumba and Muyunda Maketio.
“The deceased's bodies have been taken to Nchanga North General Hospital mortuary, and an inquiry file has been opened. Police investigations at the scene confirmed that this was indeed an illegal mining accident. The tunnel tragedy occurred when the two miners suffocated due to the presence of a 5-liter container full of petrol accidentally introduced into the tunnel. This led to the air being saturated with fuel vapour, resulting in the unfortunate deaths of the two illegal miners,” he said.
Consequently, the families of the deceased individuals have decided to proceed with burial arrangements without a post-mortem examination.
(Mwebantu, Wednesday, 9th August, 2023)
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