In a tragic and miraculous incident that occurred in the mining town of Shurugwi, a 21-year old woman was blown to pieces when mining explosives that were in her house detonated while her newborn baby survived.
Faceofmalawi has learned from The Herald that, 21-year-old Alice Makasi of house number 1768 Magakooshla and her 3-week old baby was preparing to sleep when the explosives went off, killing her instantly and destroying a part of the house.
According to a neighbor, Ms. Martha Nyoni who was with Alice moments before the explosion said the incident happened just after 9 PM.
She (Alice) was at my house and there were three of us. We then bade each other farewell at around 9 pm when Martha said she wanted to go and feed her baby.
A few moments after she left, I heard some screams for help followed by a huge explosion, Ms Nyoni said.
When she went out she saw smoke coming out of Alice’s house and immediately called out for help.
The neighbors who responded to Ms. Nyoni’s call for help arrived at the scene only to find rubbles and blown up pieces of Makasi.
One of the neighbours saw Makasi’s ruptured head on the ground outside the house. Some went into the house and saw blood all over the walls and some of Makasi’s body parts scattered all over. Part of the house’s walls had also been destroyed, she said.
Mrs. Primrose Sandi a witness and first responder said when they were at the scene they heard a baby crying through the rubbles and managed to retrieve the baby alive.
We then retrieved the baby alive and went to the police to make a report. It was then discovered that there were some mining explosives which were being kept in the house and had reacted resulting in the explosion, she said.
Police in Shurugwi confirmed that they had arrested Alice Makasi’s husband, Blessed Ndlovu (35), an artisanal miner, for storing explosives in the house.
Blessed Ndlovu, who was away when the incident occurred, is now assisting the police with investigations. He is being charged for keeping explosives in an unsafe environment.
The suspect said he had been using them in his artisanal mining activities in the Falcon area, said a police officer close to the investigation.
