Truck crushes chrome picker

A number of Chrome pickers have been injured and admitted to Kitwe Teaching Hospital (KTH) after being run over by Tipper trucks as they tried to jump onto the moving trucks so that they pick up the Chrome before it is offloaded to the four identified sites.

Copperbelt Police Commissioner Sharon Cheelo Zulu confirmed the fatal accident in which Lombe Joshua died on the spot after being run over by a loaded Shacman Tipper truck registration number BCD 5538 ZM driven by Simwambi Samuel aged 39 of Gandhi Circle in Chambishi.

Ms Zulu said the accident happened near Greek Olive in Nkana West when Lombe, a Chrome picker tried to get on the moving truck so that he could pick up the Chrome, but fell from the truck and he was run over by a rear left tyre of the truck.

Ms Zulu said the body of Lombe of house number B5205 Wusakile Township in Kitwe has been deposited in the KTH mortuary.

After news broke out that a Chrome picker had died after being run over by a truck near the Black Mountain, some Chrome pickers in Kandabwe started looting vehicles which were using the Chibuluma and Kitwe-Kalulushi roads, but quick action by police prevented the situation from degenerating into a serious riot.

More than two weeks ago, two chrome pickers were injured and admitted to KTH with serious injuries after they were run over by a tipper truck which was offloading material from the Black Mountain at one of four identified sites behind the show ground.

Those managing the operations at the Black Mountain allegedly concealed the incidents, especially that a number of people have on many occasions expressed concern regarding a number of things at the Black Mountain, among them safety, health and the speeding trucks.