Lusaka, Oct 8 (IANS): At least ten miners died while five others sustained injuries when a pit where they were conducting mining activities in central Zambia's Mumbwa district collapsed.

On Monday, Charity Munganga Chanda, the Central Province Police Commissioner, said the accident happened in the early hours of Monday when an unknown number of people went to conduct mining activities at the pit, Xinhua news agency reported.

"During the course of their mining activities, the earth collapsed on them. Rescue efforts led to the recovery of six miners with injuries, while nine died on the spot. Unfortunately, one of the six injured miners later succumbed to his injuries," she said in a statement.

She added that efforts to rescue any remaining miners trapped in the debris were still underway while the police were working with other relevant authorities to ascertain the exact number of people who were in the mine at the time of the accident.

President Hakainde Hichilema described the incident as sad and expressed concern that the country was losing people due to illegal mining activities.