Managers held hostage at Chambesi

Lusaka - Striking construction workers at a copper smelter in Zambia took a group of Chinese managers hostage on Tuesday in protest at their poor working conditions. Police were called to the site to free the hostages and calm tensions after workers locked the Chinese inside their offices and shut the perimeter gates, said company spokesperson George Jambwa. More than 500 workers at the $200m Chinese-owned site near the town of Chambesi began their strike action on Monday to press for better wages and safer working conditions ... Workers, who staged a similar work stoppage one month ago, said their salaries amounted to a mere $50 a month and complained of poor medical facilities ... Chinese investors in the southern African nation were often criticised for poor safety records. This criticism grew after 50 Zambian miners died in an explosion at a Chinese-owned Chambeshi copper mine in 2005 ...