MINISTRY of Energy Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba has disclosed that two mines, Chambishi and Mopani on the Copperbelt had some of their workers trapped underground following the power outage experienced in the country last night at 20:15 pm.

Mr Mumba has however assured that the miners were quickly rescued following a quick intervention by ZESCO in collaboration with Copperbelt and Ndola Energy companies to provide alternative power to the mines. 

Mr Mumba has also revealed that the power outage experienced last night did not only affect the entire Country but also neighboring Zimbabwe as it was caused by an interference in the Southern Power pool. 

“As ZESCO was conducting the power restoration, the Ministry of Energy and Energy Regulation Board senior officials led by myself camped at ZESCO control center to make sure restoration was done successfully,” he said.

ZANIS reports that the Permanent Secretary said this during a Joint Press briefing with the Ministries of Information and Health. 

He thanked the energy companies and ZESCO limited for their quick intervention to ensure the trapped miners were safely rescued.

Speaking at the same briefing, Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Thabo Kawana assured that no lives were lost following last night’s loss of power supply.

He said this is because the Ministry of Health has put in place alternative power systems in all its facilities countrywide, in line with the presidential directive to have standby power in critical institutions.

He explained that immediately the country experienced the power cut, emergency installations such as standby power generators and solar systems kicked in to ensure continuity of service delivery in critical health facilities.

“Last night, power was restored at UTH within 30minutes. Even in those minutes the emergency installations kicked in, hence no lives were lost,” he said.

And ZESCO Acting Managing Director Justin Lungu stated that due to last night’s system disturbance, which split the Zambian network from the Zimbabwean, power rationing hours have now been reduced to between 3 to 5 hours.

He however promised that the power rationing will resume to 7 hours once the system disturbance is resolved.

Mr Lungu further assured that power had been restored to the mines by 03:30 am and the rest of the Country by 06:00 hours.