WUSAKILE MP FUMES …blames mining firm over Black Mountain accident

WUSAKILE Member of Parliament Pavyuma Kalobo says the Black Mountain disaster could have been avoided if a named company had prioritised safety standards as directed by the Ministry of Mines. Mr Kalobo explained that the firm was a special purpose vehicle encompassing seven companies operating at the slug-dump, commonly known as Black Mountain.

The MP insisted that Chapamo™s site manager, Joe Chelelwa, should take full responsibility for the accident.

"As MP for Wusakile where the Black Mountain is situated, I am privy to the directives given to the company, hence the site manager should take full responsibility of the accident which has claimed 10 lives at the Black Mountain.

"The loss of lives is a clear case of corporate greed overshadowing safety concerns. This is heart breaking and as area MP, I am deeply hurt that because of people's desire to make money, they could not care about the safety or lives of people," Mr Kalobo said.

Efforts to get Mr Chelelwa failed as his phone went unanswered.

Mr Kalobo said he was saddened with the death of the youths in his constituency especially that there was a meeting held to put up stringent measures to avoid such incidences.

Meanwhile, two Black Mountain accident victims have been discharged from Kitwe Teaching Hospital (KTH) while one of the two who was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) has been moved to the male ward.

KTH Public Relations Manager Phoeby Chileya said the accident victims were responding positively to treatment as evidenced by the discharge of the two and the removal of one from the ICU. Ms Chileya said in an interview yesterday that the hospital was confident that the accident victims would continue to improve. fiSo far, I can say the accident victims are responding positively to treatment because two of them have been discharged while one has been removed from ICU and has been taken to the male ward. fiThe others are recovering steadily and we hope they will also be discharged from the hospital. The hospital staff are working hard," Ms Chileya said.

And Copperbelt provincial health director Alex Makupe said surgeons from other hospitals were mobilised and arrived at KTH on time to attend to the accident victims. Dr Makupe said the decision to summon surgeons from other hospitals was aimed at dealing with an emergency which had arisen following the accident at the Black Mountain.

fiIt was a collective effort and we had to build capacity. We called surgeons from other hospitals to come and beef up. We did surgeries on five accident victims," Dr Makupe said.