Maravi

Katele in car accident

Katele in car accident
By Patson Chilemba
Mon 15 Nov. 2010, 04:02 CAT

Katele Kalumba’s wife, Lumba, yesterday said it is a miracle that her husband is still alive following a road traffic accident in Luapula’s Kashikishi area on Friday.

In an interview soon after Kalumba, the ruling party’s national secretary, was evacuated to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) from a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo where he had been admitted following the accident, Lumba said she was very grateful that her husband was still alive.

“It is still a miracle that he is alive. God is great and we are grateful to all the people who have assisted. Right now, he has gone for some checkups,” she said.

Lumba, who was in Lusaka when the accident happened, said she informed defence minister Dr Kalombo, who is her husband’s cousin, immediately she heard about the accident.

She said Dr Mwansa immediately made arrangements for the Zambia Air Force to pick Kalumba up, but could not do so since he had been taken across the border to a hospital in Congo where he was admitted.

Lumba said the member of parliament for Mpweto in Congo DR advised that it would be quicker to arrange for a plane from that country since Kalumba was already admitted there.

She explained that this was the reason Kalumba was evacuated from Congo to Lusaka yesterday using a Congolese plane.

And Kalumba, who was clearly in pain, said he would be fine following his involvement in a road traffic accident.

Speaking from his hospital bed at UTH’s Fast Track VIP ward, Kalumba said he sustained a rupture in the bladder and lost a lot of blood.

However, Kalumba, said the medical staff at the hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo managed to calm the problem.

He complained of severe pain in the pelvic region and the back.

“I will be fine. There was a rupture in the bladder and I lost a lot of blood,” said Kalumba in a brief interview.

Kalumba’s driver, Francis Chalwe, who witnessed the accident, narrated the incident.

“The Pajero vehicle he was driving threw him out the window, and the same car fell on him. We had to lift it up and get him out. He was trying to avoid a pothole,” said Chalwe. “We were coming from Kashikishi to see the driver of the truck Kalumba’s truck which had overturned early in the morning.”
Chalwe said the incident happened near Congo DR.

Upon arrival at Lusaka International Airport, Kalumba was whisked away in a ZAF ambulance to UTH, where he was carried on a stretcher to the Fast Track VIP Ward where he has been admitted.

The MMD party leadership led by national chairperson Michael Mabenga, arrived to see him at the hospital shortly after his arrival.

Kalumba is MMD’s Chiengi member of parliament.

Labels: CAR ACCIDENTS, KATELE KALUMBA

posted by MrK @ 5:55 AM