Burial of the 24 Chirundu road traffic accident has been set for tomorrow in Chongwe District of Lusaka Province.
Giving an update in Lusaka this morning, Lusaka Province Permanent Secretary Robert Kamalata says burial for the Chirundu accident victims who were coming from Chongwe district, has been set for tomorrow.
Mr. Kamalata has told the media in Lusaka that in a meeting held yesterday in Chongwe, Co-Chaired by the District Commissioner Evans Lupiya and the Mayor, Christopher Habenzu, it was resolved.
Mr. Kamalata said burial will take place tomorrow on Tuesday, the 16th of May, 2023, in Chongwe district.
Mr. Kamalata said that Her Royal Highness Chieftainess Mukamambo II has provided burial grounds under Headman Nkumbula.
He added that all mourners are gathered at Chiyabale, New Apostolic Church in Chongwe.
Mr. Kamalata says burial will be preceded by a Church Service to be held at Chiyabale New Apostolic Church right in Chongwe.
Minister of Health, Sylvia Masebo, who is also Area Member of Parliament for Chongwe who also visited the funeral houses in Chiyabale village yesterday , has directed all Pathologists to conduct Post-mortems on the 24 bodies which commenced at 09:00 hours today.
The Provincial Permanent Secretary said after Post-Mortems currently under way are done, bodies will leave for the Chiyabale New Apostolic Church tomorrow by 08:00 hours.
Meanwhile, the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit (DMMU) and the Chongwe Municipal Council have also provided food and other logistics currently under way towards funeral expenses for the 24 Chirundu road traffic accident victims.
The local authority in Chongwe has also released a bus and fueled it for family members to witness the Post-Mortems which were scheduled to commence at 09:00 hours at UTH mortuary today.
Mr. Kamalata said Government has provided coffins and transport to ferry the bodies to Chongwe for burial tomorrow.
He appealed to the bereaved families for cooperation and to remain united so that the deceased persons are given a dignified send off and burial.
“We wish to appeal to the bereaved families to remain United so so that we can give the deceased persons a dignified send off and burial,” said Mr. Kamalata.
Mr. Kamalata also wished the injured victims who are hospitalised in the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) a quick recovery.
24 people died on Saturday morning and 11 others suffered serious injuries when a Mitsubishi Rosa bus they were traveling in was involved in an accident on the Chirundu/ Kafue road at a place called Kapiringozi.
According to the Zambia Police Service Deputy Public Relations Officer Danny Mwale who confirmed the accident, said the bus collided with a freightliner truck.
11 survivors were safely evacuated to UTH from Chirundu on Saturday evening alongside the 24 dead bodies.
Survivors were first to be evacuated from Mtendere mission hospital on three ambulances while dead bodies arrived after midnight on a Zambia Army truck.
Meanwhile hh was busy celebrating his daughter’s wedding which he politicised as expected. The man has no class. So now he come to this burial and cry crocodile tears even after trying to arrest bo given lubinda on his birthday. Wicked evil man.
This is heartbreaking, but the indictment is on all of us especially those charged with the responsibility of ensuring that our roads are safe. How some drivers handle vehicles one would wonder how they got their licenses. Even a layperson can see that some vehicles aren’t roadworthy but you’d find that their papers are intact and valid. Most PSV vehicles in Kitwe drive to other towns with a special paper from traffic police to allow them passage because they’re not roadworthy. I don’t know how trucks from Tanzania manage to even reach this far, apart from drivers being a menace on our roads. I don’t think SA or Botswana would allow such wrecks on their roads. We’ve destroyed Zambia and not even Bally will fix it alone
Let the New Apostolic church reconcile their differences. The church needs healing.
So sad…MTSRIP…words can never be enough
However I must say…this is a sad combination of bad roads, drivers not observing good common sense road practices and too much heavy traffic on the roads. Our roads are a very risky place to be on, before anyone goes on a journey they would be best placed to pray for God’s protection.