Government has declared Wednesday 29th October, 2014 a day of national mourning in honor of the 26 lives from Henga Community School of Gwembe who died on Friday.
Acting President Edgar Lungu has told media News in a statement that on Wednesday, all flags will fly at half-mast.
Mr. Lungu says he has directed Secretary to the Cabinet to organize a national church service to be held on the day of national mourning, at the cathedral of the Holy Cross in honor of the departed souls.
Mr. Lungu says the departed ones died while attempting to attend to a significant, lifetime and historic national event.
He says government has also pledged to ensure that all bodies are retrieved, recovered and buried in a descent manner.
He furthermore adds that government will also meet all costs associated with the funeral.
The Acting President has also directed Minister of Works, Transport, and Communications Yamfwa Mukanga to hasten government plans to invest in safe water transport vessels to minimize unnecessary loss of lives.
Mr. Lungu, who is also PF Secretary General, has reminded the electronic media to play solemn music from 06hrs to 18hrs on the day of national mourning and that all programmes of entertainment nature should be suspended.
Meanwhile,a combined team of divers from Zambia police and Zambia army have recovered 17 out of 26 bodies of people, mostly pupils who drowned in lake Kariba on Friday after the boat they were on capsized.
Police acting public relations officer, Esther Katongo said that the search for bodies on Lake Kariba by a combined team of divers from Zambia Police and Zambia Army had continued and was progressing well.
As of yesterday morning, the total number of bodies recovered had come to 17, and that included the three bodies that were recovered on Saturday and relatives had been able to identify the bodies.
“As it stands, we are only remaining with nine bodies to be recovered,” Ms Katongo said.
Updates will be given to the nation as the search progresses.
The police urged the general public to remain calm as everything was being done to have all the bodies recovered.
There goes a true national leader! Happy when we should be, solemn when life says so!
Please invest in life jackets for school children who use boats to get to and fro their schools. It is awful for young lives to be lost so senseless. Instead of evacuating old people for treatment overseas, use money for development of young people.
Is National mourning different from funeral day? Because it would have been wise to hold national mourning after all bodies and survivors have been accounted for.
Colonization was a bad thing, people still dying from it. Zambian government should sue Britain on behalf of the families.
26 is too much! May their young souls rest in eternal peace.
I thought it was 27.It is 26 right?
Anyway I feel for the families
Thanks
@Nostradamus
Ladies and gentlemen we’ve got him! This gentleman is Chanda Chashi a.k.a. Reuben Mwansa the man wanted in Chicago for threatening a fellow Zambian with death. Although his blog shows a U.S. flag he blogs from Zambia. In many cases the location of the blogger is identified by the computers IP. He bought the computer while in the U.S. He has provided a clue to his true identity in his blog in the “50 years…what exactly?” on this medium. Access it and read between the lines. We are dealing with a very dangerous person here. His blogging will now help the U.S. investigators to track him down.
@1.3 Psy
People are mourning, it is a sad week. It is a week for the families of those CHILDREN and not your family and your best friend’s.
I think your family and your best friend’s family don’t die. Even if your child died, I will come to your funeral. They are Children for God’s sake.
LESA ni MALYOTOLA, muli nkulungwe..
My sincere condolences on this needless loss. Hopefully out of this will come concrete action, safer waterways and priority for our students and the youth. Alas, if we go the route of a known neighboring country that keeps overloading boats, ignoring safety, and making false promises and empty directives, our lot will be grievous indeed time after time. Thank you for honoring these lives that should not have been lost in this way.
Very sad indeed……
Appreciate it that Wednesday has been declared a day of national mourning. Goverment should also look into safer means of transport, life vests etc….
I have visited all the major Lakes in Zambia and I have been alarmed at the way marine safety is ignored. A simple intervention like a life jacket could have saved all those people packed on the canoe. We need police marine checks to ensure that all water vessels carry the same number of life vests.
Another sacrifice 26 souls to heal someone .Twapa pata kabiyeni fye leave Zambians to live in peace not always sacrificing a bana ba nenu.
PF government creating the usual hula-baloo to be seen caring. This disaster happened almost three days ago and today PF govt can only talk national mourning day when victims and their families needed state assistance, comfort and pain alleviation of this tragedy. Even if incidence in Kariba, Southern province will never attract PF govt sympathy because of absence of PF votes, pf government need to know they are a government for all Zambians. They should have reacted quicker, helpful and comfort given be with the victims families after all these young people lost their lives for the love and pride of their country. UPND president HH did just that, how leadership need to respond in time of need.
@Aquilla ……I am mourning and you r bringing in Politics to hell with your views.
Its so painful to LOOSE YOUNG ONES!!!
I am feeling as if I ve lost my own brother !!!
God ve mercy !!!
I’m surprised that His Horribleness (HH) or his party UPND hasn’t given a message of condolences in this sad matter. MMD did. (HH) is probably looking for a political twist on which to attack the current, democratically elected government. Be real HH. Mr. Lungu is the most honorable of politicians, he’s learnt well from the Ways Of The Father. Sad event indeed
Corruption is a very big factor in the Patriotic Front today. And as experience has shown, corrupt elements always want to turn to the tribe for protection.
So, corrupt elements like Kudos are very tribalistic. And this is why today you are seeing a tendency towards tribalism in the Patriotic Front – it is simply meant to service their corruption and protect them politically.
And this corruption of the Patriotic Front has got a godfather; Kudos who is a chief candidate for genocide criminal court in the Hague.
@Kudos
When you PF minions were busy winning and dinning during Golden Jubilee of dependence on the West for survival, HH and UPND were in Gembe donating food to the funeral houses. Its just that PF LT does not cover HH’s good deeds for political reason.
Anderson Chishala in Canada yet you do not know the difference between ‘loose’ and ‘lose’. There is an online dictionary and so I urge you to look up these two words as they have two different meanings.
My condolences to all the affected families.its inhuman to start bringing in cheap politics like@kudos,and others.i do salute those who know what it feels like mourning.God comfort the families during this difficult period.
Sincere condolences to family and friends of the bereaved! May God the Almighty take care of the souls of these angels. They did not have to die this way!
Next ni King cobra …..
So sad that Zambia has lost future leaders, go well young boys and girls, we shall meet again……………May Your Souls Rest In enternal peace
Its so tragic that our fellow citizens died in such a manner. Heartfelt condolences to the families, lets learn to love one another as we journey through this thing called Life!
May the souls of the dear departed rest in piece. It is sad to loose loved ones and we can only pray for the comforting of the families that have suffered this loss.
On another note, just thinking…… Why is it that whenever the Kateka is rumored sick we have nasty accidents where people loose lives. I am not superstitious but this coincidence is making me want to read differently into it. Anyway only God Knows
@ Anderson CHISALA…… There you go again claim ‘mourning’ duping Zambians as ‘Donci Kubeba’. Chisala is synonymous with PF party deceptive ethos.
Seriously even an online dictionary cannot cure stupid! Why do people have a problem distinguishing between ‘loose’ and ‘lose’? The former according to dictionary.com means free or released from fastening or attachment while the latter means to suffer defeat or fail to win, as in a contest, race, or game. This is the problem when you have Kaponyas coming to comment at important forums such as these. It is just annoying when people cannot learn despite several corrections. Just which schools did some of you attend where you did not learn how to distinguish between such simple words? Is it the result of leakages causing all these misspellings? Can someone please help me understand this? When we wrote our Cambridge exams there were no such leakages so it was genuine passing.