• HEALTH workers in Choma disinfect a foreign truck before removing the body of a Zimbabwean driver, China Maduma, who was suspected to have died of Ebola on Thursday. Picture by CHILA NAMAIKO

By CHILA NAMAIKO and CHARITY MOONGA –
CHOMA residents were on Thursday afternoon gripped with fear and panic after news spread of a Zimbabwean driver who was found dead in his truck from suspected Ebola.
Some residents rushed for the safety of their homes after word spread in the central business area of Choma.
China Maduma, 59, who had been travelling from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to South Africa, was driving a truck belonging to Moody Blue Transport, registration number WPV001GP.
Mr Maduma’s truck was laden with copper and he had stopped for a rest on Thursday morning at a truck stop on the Choma-Livingstone Road.
He spent some time cleaning his truck and some workers at the truck stop heard him communicate with fellow truckers who were still transiting from Lusaka, that he was unwell.
Mr Maduma was seen sleeping on his driver’s seat and by 13:00 hours when his counterparts arrived, he was already dead.
After this, no one dared to go close to the truck for fear of contracting what they suspected to be the Ebola virus, which had continued to  ravage some West African countries.  There were also some confirmed cases in the DRC, but the disease had since been containd.
Health workers from the Choma medical office were immediately informed about Mr Maduma’s death, which some people at the car park suspected could have been caused by Ebola.
A check by the Times at the scene around 15:30 hours found two health workers clad in Ebola protective clothing disinfecting the truck and the body which was lying inside the cabin.
Scores of truck drivers and health workers stood at a distance as the two workers continued spraying.
Southern Province deputy police commissioner, Milner Muyambango said police could not remove the body from the cabin immediately as they had to wait for health officials to fumigate the truck.
Mr Muyambango said that the body was only removed from the cabin around 20:00 hours and was taken to Choma Hospital mortuary after it was examined by health workers.
He said Zimbabwean authorities had since been informed about the death of Mr Maduma to enable his family come to identify the body.
Provincial medical officer Jelita Chinyonga, however, said Mr Maduma did not die from Ebola, but he was discovered to have been suffering from ulcers, after being screened.
“Immediately when we were informed about his death, our health officials who were in Ebola protective clothing rushed to the scene, fumigated the entire truck and the cabin. It was discovered that Mr Maduma was suffering from ulcers,” she said.
Dr Chinyonga said health officers were geared to curb any case of Ebola outbreak and urged people to continue taking precautionary measures against Ebola.
In a related development, the Government has called for peace and calm because the country is not at high risk for Ebola.
Vice-President Guy Scott said Zambia did not have direct flights to affected countries and urged the public to take corrective measures to avoid contracting Ebola.
Dr Scott told Parliament that the Government had received information on the truck driver found dead in Choma and said a team of medical experts had since been sent to the town to ascertain the facts.
This followed a question from Dundumwezi UPND MP Edgar Singombe who wanted to find out what the Government was doing about the panic that had gripped Choma residents following the truck driver who was found dead in his cabin.
The Vice-President, however, said that Zambia had never recorded any case of Ebola from the time the disease broke out.
Meanwhile, police on Wednesday picked up a body of a 36-year-old man who was found dead in a room he booked at a named lodge in Choma.
Mr Muyambango named the deceased as Liock Mulemwa of Namwala District. He  was discovered dead around 10:00 hours.