2 Kitwe Workers Buried Alive

By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA and CHATULA KAMPO
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TWO employees at the Nkana Shopping Mall construction site in Kitwe were yesterday trapped after a trench caved in.
The employees from Flames Construction Limited got trapped as they were working on the construction of the mall in the town centre on the former Nkana Hotel building area, which was razed to pave way for a new structure.
Copperbelt Minister Mwenya Musenge, who rushed to the area, immediately suspended construction works following the incident.
The two workers only identified as Charles and Chewe were buried around 10:00 hours, while working in the trench, doing the earth work when the wall caved in.
However, fellow workers on site managed to retrieve the victims, one of them unconscious.
Mr Musenge was in Kitwe for the World Press Freedom Day activities at the time of the tragedy.
“First thing before taking workers in areas of work, they are supposed to make sure that the areas are conducive for the human beings to operate in and so far now, we will have to suspend this project until the engineering contractor and the council sit down to look at
some things and be able to agree,” he said.
A consultant supervising the works Barry Waluzimba said he suspected the collapse of the soil was a result of the ground not having adequately dried up, as the rain had just stopped.
The two were rushed to the hospital where they were admitted.