Two miners at the Chinese Collume coal mine in Sinazongwe district have been injured in a mine accident underground.
Both Sinazongwe District Commissioner (DC) Mungoni Simulilika and the Chinese Shift General Manager Lewis Chiyumba confirmed the development to Zambia News and Information Services (ZANIS).
Mr Chiyumba explained that the accident occurred yesterday at 18:00 hours at shaft two b and they were rushed to Maamba Hospital.
He said a rock fell down as the two miners Anold Siamutuku 21 and Akeshi Siambede 21 were drilling underground.
The shift boss said they were 12 miners working underground at the time of the accident and the 10 of them escaped unhurt.
And Mr Simulilika said the condition of the two injured men who have been admitted at Maamba Hospital is stable.
Mr Simulilika appealed to mine safety department to have regular checks at the Nkandabbawe Collume coal mine to ensure that the safety standards were maintained.
A check at the Collume Coal mine by ZANIS found that the qualified personnel in the safety department have resigned citing poor conditions of service.
On 4th January this year the Chief Inspector for the Mine Billy Chewe handed a letter to the CCCM management instructing them that operations at the mines have been suspended with immediate effect.
Mr Chewe said it was clear that the mine was no longer safe following the two fatal accidents which included a Chinese national recorded in less than one month.
ZANIS
Collum mine again…
Here we go again
China man is only concerned about production.Safety of the worker is secondary.they are fake these chinese we have allowed to invade our country.
Bogus chinese investor ! These guys want to kill all our miners ust because of profits. The mine safety dept must go back again (to inspect and actually monitor operations at this mine).
No safety. They should follow our MSD standards otherwise they must not be allowed to operate
China man , safety first , then profit, please you are killing our pipo.
Why are the inspetors not closing these killer mines, a lot of lives have been lost in these mines just like being in Iraq