Three illegal miners have died after walls of an underground pit collapsed on them on Sunday, February 2, 2025.

The victims have been identified as Winstone Mwale, 35, his wife Joyce Nkhoma, 30 and Peter Banda, 31, from Chimwala Village.

ZANIS reports that the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday at Chankanga mine owned by an Indian national identified only as Zahid, located in the Mbuzi area of Cheche Village, Chief Chitungulu.

The trio had entered a tunnel to mine gold illegally when the mine caved in, burying them alive.

Local villagers managed to retrieve the bodies after hours when the accident occurred.

And Lumezi Town Council Chairperson Oliver Mwale assured that the government was going to intervene by supporting the funeral expenses.

Mr Mwale has since directed for the temporal closure of the mine until internal issues are addressed.

“What we have seen is that this mine is abrogating a lot of mining regulations, especially those pertaining to safety, people here are working without protective equipment and Security is weak, everyone is going and coming,” he said.

Mr Mwale advised local residents to refrain from illegal mining activities and also appealed to companies to follow safety procedures to avoid loss of life.

And speaking on behalf of the residents, Derrick Mwale thanked the government for supporting the affected families.

“We are thankful for the government support but we want you to make sure that the investor is held accountable,” he said.

The bodies of the deceased have since been deposited in Lumezi Mission Hospital Mortuary awaiting postmortem.