A casual laborer has died after sliding into a boiler machine at Kakira Sugar Work sweets manufacturing plant in Kakira, Jinja.
Thirty-year-old Samuel Dhatemwa met his death around 3 am on Wednesday while filing gas in the hitting system of the boiler.
According to the information obtained by our reporter, the boiler trapped Dhatemwa, who sustained burns and suffocated to death.
A casual laborer who spoke during interview on condition of anonymity said there is no barricade between the hitting point and the gas filling areas, which often exposes them to accidents.
“This place is a little slippery and we often push the bar gas towards the boiler using our feet.But since there is no barricade to offer us primary protection, it is easy to slide to the boiler and die.
Equally, the high hitting temperatures at that particular point, don’t favor us to pull out colleagues in danger,” he said.
The employee also revealed that they lack standard protective gears to safeguard them from injuries within the risky areas of the plant.
The deceased’s father, Moses Bwana, says that he received the first briefing about his son’s accident at about 9:00 am.
Bwana says that he rallied other family members who accompanied him to the factory premises to witness the process of retrieving Dhatemwa’s lifeless body.
Lawrence Iriiso, the head of Safety and Security at Kakira Sugar Limited, says that the sweets factory has been temporarily closed to pave way for investigations into the matter.
The Kiira Regional Police Spokesperson, James Mubi, says that the deceased’s body has been taken to Jinja regional referral hospital mortuary for postmortem as they investigate the cause of the accident.
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