Zesa explosion worker dies

ONE of the four Zesa employees who were hospitalised after they were severely burnt following an explosion that occurred while they were working on an electric fault in Bulawayo's city centre, has died.

Zwelitsha Tshuma (50) succumbed to the burns he sustained in the explosion at Mater Dei Hospital yesterday morning.

Tshuma and his three colleagues were hospitalised after the blast that occurred last week on Wednesday at around 11AM while they were working on a circuit breaker behind Zapalala Supermarket which is located along Herbert Chitepo Street between Leopold Takawira Avenue and Sixth Avenue.

Also burnt in that incident were Trust Ncube (27), Ananias Ngwebu (53) and Tracy Dhliwayo (26).

Zesa Western Region general manager Engineer Lovemore Chinaka confirmed Tshuma's death.

He said one of his colleagues was still in hospital while the other two were discharged.

"It is sad to announce the death of one of our employees who was injured on duty. We sincerely express our condolences to his family.

"The company has a certain line of protocol that it follows and is certainly following that to assist the victims," said Eng Chinaka.

The four Zesa employees sustained varying degrees of burns in the explosion and were rushed to Mater Dei Hospital.

The explosion came days after two suspected copper cable thieves had died after they were seriously burnt while trying to steal cables in Nkenyane along the Bulawayo-Nkayi road.

One died on the scene while the other one died a day after the incident.