Man dies after fall into chemicals at Nakara

By Confidente Reporter
A 44-year-old man died after he reportedly fell into toxic chemicals at the Nakara processing factory in southern industry, Wind­hoek on Monday, in a case be­ing blamed on the company’s alleged poor safety measures.
Inside sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said that the man, Sonde Pe­ter Mundambara fell into the chemical used in the cleaning process of leather and fur.
Sources add that at the time of the incident, Mundambara was not wearing protective clothing, a situation his fellow colleagues blamed the com­pany for reportedly not hav­ing strong safety measures in place.
“As we speak the man in ly­ing in the mortuary. He fell into the chemicals while on duty. These guys do not have safety measures in place. The man at the time of the incident did not have safety gear. There have been other deaths in the past as a result of these danger­ous chemicals that people are exposed to in the past,” sources said.
What’s disheartening, sourc­es add is that after Mundam­bara fell into the chemicals, he was rushed to hospital by a fellow employee. “After he fell into the chemicals, his col­leagues dragged him out and one of them rushed him to hospital where several hours later he died. None of those in management or at least the foreman were present,” the sources said.
One of the company’s man­ager, only known to Confi­dente as Laura however said that Mundambara stepped into an enclosure with danger­ous chemical gases without his protective gear.
“What happened is that he went into an (enclosure) without safety equipment and there are chemical gases in there. For more information you should talk to our safety officer Mr Jacko,” Laura said. She however denied that the company experienced chemi­cal related deaths in the past.
Contacted for comment, Jacko said that the company was not ready to issue a state­ment surrounding the death of Mundambara.
“At this stage, we are busy with the family so there will be no statement. We will not give out any information out of respect for his family. It is too soon.”
But to the contrary, Mun­dambara’s distraught wife said that she was still waiting on the company to tell her exactly what happened to her husband and father of four children, in­cluding minor twin girls.
“I don’t know what hap­pened. We are still waiting to hear from the company.”
Meanwhile, Nampol’s spokesperson Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi said that the incident had not been reported at the time of going to print.