Zambia on Monday started a day of national mourning to mark the burial of an estimated 50 workers who died in a blast at a Chinese-owned explosives factory at a copper mine in the small town of Chambishi.
President Levy Mwanawasa is due to lead dignitaries and hundreds of mourners at a ceremony to be held in front of the Chinese-owned copper mine where the mutilated bodies will be buried at a specially designed site, said Gabriel Namulambe, a top civil servant in the Copperbelt province.
The Chinese government will be represented by a 24-strong delegation headed by Assistant Commerce Minister Chen Jian, Namulambe said.
”The burial will take place today [Monday] and will coincide with the day of national mourning,” Namulambe said.
All flags in the country will fly at half-mast and entertainment activities have been banned on Monday, said Joshua Kanganja, Cabinet Secretary, in a statement.
State radio and television will only play solemn music, he added.
Monday’s burial will only be for 49 people who have been confirmed dead, though there is still a dispute between the government and BGRIMM Explosives plant over the actual number of fatalities in last Wednesday’s giant explosion.
”We will bury the 49 bodies that we retrieved, but we still think over 50 people died in the accident,” Namulambe said.
The 49 coffins will be draped in national flags during a funeral procession that is expected to bring the tiny town of Chambishi, situated about 300km north of Lusaka, to a standstill.
Wednesday’s tragedy has sparked accusations that the factory’s Chinese owners had flouted safety norms and shown little regard for the Zambian workers it hired by not keeping proper records. — Sapa-AFP