By Mubanga Mubanga
A brother to one of the Seseli Mine victims who have been retrieved dead says the family is extremely disturbed and sad following the loss of his brother.
Bwalya Mwaba told Daily Revelation that his brother Musonda, has been found dead in a decomposed state and arrangements are being made to bury him immediately.
“It’s a big blow to lose him. My appeal to the government is to look into the plight of the widow left behind. Even though we can help her as a family, we can’t do it every day. She needs something to do to be able to provide for herself and the child,” Mwaba said.
Speaking earlier before the brother was discovered, Mwaba had kept hope that they would find the brother alive.
Bwalya, who is also a musician with the stage name Coziem, said the family was still praying for their brother.
“Ichichetekelo Chena epochili, hope taiwipwile sana, kulalolelafye ichichetekelo Chena epochili (we still have hope. We have not lost hope completely, we just have to wait) Tulepepa ati kuti babafye alive (we are praying for him to be found alive) Mwaba said,”
Mwaba said the brother who used to live in Luanshya was married with one child.
He said the family used to go to the pit every day to check on the progress of the rescue operation, but the rescuers told them to stop going there because it is not safe.
Last week, over 30 small scale miners were believed to be trapped after a mudslide at the open pit mine.
The rescue team has so far retrieved one miner alive and six bodies.
Of the six bodies retrieved, two have been identified and buried while the others are yet to be identified.
On the other hand, families, friends and journalists have been restricted from going to the mine owing to safety concerns.
This means the media has to wait for official updates from the government.
