Two diggers die in pit mishap

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Wednesday July 7, 2010 00:00

The two men, who were at work at the China Jiangsu International site in Broadhurst, Gaborone, perished in front of their shocked colleagues, who tried to rescue them in vain.

According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened so fast that no one knew what was happening. The two men were using shovels to dig the trench to connect the sewerage pipes across the main road to the Broadhurst ponds.

'They had finished digging and were levelling inside the trench when the soil collapsed on them. Some of us had to use shovels to try to dig them out while another ran to the other side to ask for help from another employee who was using the JCB digging machine,' said a colleague, Kobamo Radiposo.

'It took a while - maybe more than 20 minutes - before they could be dug out of that pit but it was already too late,' he said.

He explained that they had repeatedly cautioned their employers that digging trenches in a wet area was dangerous and that the trenches should be made a little bit wider but 'they never listened to us.

They do not care about us. It is tragic but life has to go on,' Raposo said revealing that for all the toil and risks involved they earn roughly P1,100 a month without any overtime pay.

'I knew the two guys; they were very young and pretty close. It is sad that they had to die together like that, at least one of them should have survived,' said a woman who works for the same company. Employees from other companies in the neighbourhood converged at the scene. Worry and sadness was very clear on their faces as they saw, instead of the bodies, protruding boots inside the trench.

As the ambulance left the scene with the bodies, which were later fished out of the pit, only silence remained with the police officers and Botswana City Council managers talking in hushed tones. Police officers took the site manager with them to the nearby police station. Police are investigating the matter.