{"id":2284,"date":"2026-02-04T14:17:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:17:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/?p=2284"},"modified":"2026-02-04T14:17:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T12:17:56","slug":"2284","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/?p=2284","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

MALAWIAN DIES IN VUBWI MINING ACCIDENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

One Malawian national has died, while three others have escaped death, following a tragic mining accident in Vubwi District in Eastern Province.<\/p>\n

Eastern Province Police Commanding Officer, Robertson Mweemba confirmed the incident, identifying the victim as 20-year-old Phempero Fordson of Mchinji District, Kapanga village, in the neighboring Malawi.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe informed that Vubwi Police Station received a report of sudden and unnatural death which occurred yesterday, February 3, 2026,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The incident which occurred at midday, in Chithumba area of Vubwi District was reported to the police by Zalila village headman, Heston Mwale, of Chief Pembamoyo\u2019s area.<\/p>\n

Mwale reported that, Fordson, who was up until his a death, a provisionally subject of Zalila village died after a 6-metre pit collapsed on him whilst in the company of three other Malawian nationals who fortunately escaped unscathed.<\/p>\n

Brief facts of the matter are that the four male illegal miners: Phempero Fordson, aged 20; Billy Robert, aged 15; and Shadreck Alick, aged 16, went into the pit to mine when the earth started collapsing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe three managed to sneak out while the deceased was trapped,\u201d recounted the East Police Chief.<\/p>\n

Realising the situation, onlookers tried to save the deceased from being buried alive but all efforts proved futile.<\/p>\n

Subsequently, the village headman alerted the Police of the accident who, upon arrival, found the body already retrieved from the pit.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon inspection, the deceased body of Male Pempero Fordson was found with a deep cut on the forehead and depressed back of the head,\u201d Mr Mweemba revealed.<\/p>\n

“Since no foul play was observed during the preliminary investigation, police have advised the bereaved family to bury the body in Malawi,” he added.<\/p>\n

This, however, is not an isolated incident, as Vubwi District has experienced numerous illegal mining accidents in recent years.<\/p>\n

The Chithumba area, in particular, has gained notoriety for widespread illicit mining activities.<\/p>\n

The district\u2019s geographic location, straddling the border between Mozambique and Malawi, is a major factor driving cross-border illegal mining, a persistent challenge that continues to worry both authorities and local residents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MALAWIAN DIES IN VUBWI MINING ACCIDENT One Malawian national has died, while three others have escaped death, following a tragic mining accident in Vubwi District in Eastern Province. Eastern Province Police Commanding Officer, Robertson Mweemba confirmed the incident, identifying the victim as 20-year-old Phempero Fordson of Mchinji District, Kapanga village, in the neighboring Malawi. \u201cBe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":2285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,13,15],"tags":[26,66,78,25,117],"class_list":["post-2284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-law-and-order","category-local","category-onlyzanis","tag-ineverycornerofzambia","tag-mines","tag-zambiapolice","tag-zanis","tag-illigalmining","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2286,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions\/2286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanis.gov.zm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}