Police complain after being excluded from divers training

Sme police officers in Mpulungu district in Northern Province have bemoaned the lack of representation at the on-going training of divers being carried out at Outward Bound in Mbala.

The officers have complained that Mpulungu, being a district that faces a lot of marine accidents, needed divers to save lives on Lake Tanganyika.

The police command has recruited 13 officers who are currently undergoing training in Mbala as marine divers but none of the trainees were drawn from Mpulungu.

Police sources said two officers from the district applied to be part of the training but were not picked.

For many years, several marine accidents have been recorded on Lake Tanganyika and usually resulted in loss of peoples’ lives and property.

It is usually difficult to save lives after an accident on the lake because Mpulungu police had no divers trained to carry out the undertaking.

In most cases, police usually wait for bodies of the victims of a water accident to come on the surface before they are collected for burial.

When contacted for a comment over the matter, Mpulungu Member of Parliament, Freedom Sikazwe, promised to take up the issue with the Inspector General of Police, Stella Libongani.

Police spokesperson, Elizabeth Kanjela, could not be reached for a comment by press time.