A TWENTY-eight year old man of Chipata has died of injuries he sustained after alcohol inspired and gave him courage to jump off a Lusaka-bound moving bus.
Alex Smart Zimba’s alcohol-related death comes even before the healing of Dr Brian’s Sampa’s painful blisters he sustained on his feet about a fortnight ago while walking to Chipata to push for the ban of all manner of intoxicating drinks.
It is reported that Zimba, a resident of Old Gym Compound in Chipata was in the company of three male colleagues when they boarded a Zambia-Malawi bus heading to the capital city on Sunday morning.
No Sooner had the bus started off than Zimba and his colleagues embarked on a foursome of binge drinking as if to drown the long distance between Chipata and Lusaka.
Fellow passengers testified of how the quartet laughed, sang and told stories as the bus meandered through the mountainous terrains of the Great East Road.
However, shocking to the other passengers was that with every stop in towns between Chipata and Rufunsa, one member of the quartet would remain even though they were all destined for Lusaka such that by the time the bus was at Chipako area, Zimba was not with his colleagues.
As the bus approached Mpanshya in Rufunsa District, Zimba drunk and probably bored shocked other passengers as he flung himself out of the speeding bus.
Unfortunately, the fall earned Zimba a deep cut in the head as well a broken shoulder and arm.
Noticing that the incident happened just a stone throw distance from Luke’s Hospital Hospital, bus driver Jonathan Simukonda diverted the bus to drive this injured passenger to the health facility where he was left for treatment.
Police spokesperson Rae Hamoonga confirmed the bizarre incident to #Kalemba saying Zimba died of head and body injuries at St Luke’s Mission Hospital the same day of the accident.