A river ‘died' overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine

KITWE, Zambia (AP) — Authorities and environmentalists in Zambia fear the long-term impact of an acid spill at a Chinese-owned mine that contaminated a major river and could potentially affect millions of people after signs of pollution were detected at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) downstream.

The spill happened on Feb. 18 when a tailings dam that holds acidic waste from a copper mine in the north of the country collapsed, according to investigators from the Engineering Institution of Zambia.

The collapse allowed some 50 million liters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals to flow into a stream that links to the Kafue River, Zambia’s most important waterway, the engineering institution said.

“It is an environmental disaster really of catastrophic consequences,” said Chilekwa Mumba, an environmental activist who works in Zambia's Copperbelt Province.

China is the dominant player in copper mining in Zambia, a southern African nation which is among the world’s top 10 producers of copper, a key component in smartphones and other technology.

Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema called for help from experts and said the leak is a crisis that threatens people and wildlife along the Kafue, which runs for more than 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) through the heart of Zambia.

Authorities are still investigating the extent of the environmental damage.

An Associated Press reporter visited parts of the Kafue River, where dead fish could be seen washing up on the banks about 100 kilometers (60 miles) downstream from the mine run by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, which is majority owned by the state-run China Nonferrous Metals Industry Group.

The Ministry of Water Development and Sanitation said the "devastating consequences" also included the destruction of crops along the river's banks. Authorities are concerned that ground water will be contaminated as the mining waste seeps into the earth or is carried to other areas.

“Prior to the 18th of February this was a vibrant and alive river,” said Sean Cornelius, who lives near the Kafue and said fish died and birdlife near him disappeared almost immediately. “Now everything is dead, it's like a totally dead river. Unbelievable. Overnight, this river died.”

About 60% of Zambia's 20 million people live in the Kafue River basin and depend on it in some way as a source of fishing, irrigation for agriculture and water for industry. The river supplies drinking water to about five million people, including in the capital, Lusaka.

The acid leak at the mine caused a complete shutdown of the water supply to the nearby city of Kitwe, home to an estimated 700,000 people.

The Zambian government has deployed the air force to drop hundreds of tons of lime into the river in an attempt to counteract the acid and roll back the damage. Speed boats have also been used to ride up and down the river, applying lime.

Government spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said the situation was very serious and Sino-Metals Leach Zambia would bear the costs of the cleanup operation.

Zhang Peiwen, the chairman of Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, met with government ministers this week and apologized for the acid spill, according to a transcript of his speech at the meeting released by his company.

“This disaster has rung a big alarm for Sino-Metals Leach and the mining industry,” he said. He said it “will go all out to restore the affected environment as quickly as possible."

The environmental impact of China's large mining interests in mineral-rich parts of Africa, which include Zambia's neighbors Congo and Zimbabwe, has often been criticized, even as the minerals are crucial to the countries' economies.

Chinese-owned copper mines have been accused of ignoring safety, labor and other regulations in Zambia as they strive to control its supply of the critical mineral, leading to some discontent with their presence. Zambia is also burdened with more than $4 billion in debt to China and had to restructure some of its loans from China and other nations after defaulting on repayments in 2020.

A smaller acid waste leak from another Chinese-owned mine in Zambia's copper belt was discovered days after the Sino-Metals accident, and authorities have accused the smaller mine of attempting to hide it.

Local police said a mine worker died at that second mine after falling into acid and alleged that the mine continued to operate after being instructed to stop its operations by authorities. Two Chinese mine managers have been arrested, police said.

Both mines have now halted their operations after orders from Zambian authorities, while many Zambians are angry.

“It really just brings out the negligence that some investors actually have when it comes to environmental protection,” said Mweene Himwinga, an environmental engineer who attended the meeting involving Zhang, government ministers, and others. “They don’t seem to have any concern at all, any regard at all. And I think it’s really worrying because at the end of the day, we as Zambian people, (it's) the only land we have.”

Zimba reported from Lusaka, Zambia.

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows the path of mine waste in the Mwambashi River, a tributary of the Kafue River, following a tailing dam breach at a Chinese-owned mine near Kitwe, Zambia. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows dead fish in the Kafue River near the town of Luanshya, Zambia. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows Sean Cornelius, a retired local resident, reviving his boat on the Kafue River near Kitwe, Zambia. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows farmer Juliet Balaya as she surveys the damage to her crop and fishpond caused by a mine waste spill near Kitwe. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows the path of mine waste in a river near a Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine near Kitwe. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows the entrance to the Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine complex near Kitwe. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

This image taken from video Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025, shows a breach at a tailing dam at a Sino-Metals Leach Zambia mine near Kitwe. (AP Photo/Richard Kille )

Violent tornadoes ripped through parts of the U.S., wiping out schools and toppling semitractor-trailers in several states, part of a monster storm that has killed at least 32 people as more severe weather was expected late Saturday.

The number of fatalities increased after the Kansas Highway Patrol reported eight people died in a highway pileup caused by a dust storm in Sherman County on Friday. At least 50 vehicles were involved.

In Mississippi, Gov. Tate Reeves announced that six people died in three counties and three more people were missing. There were 29 injuries across the state, he added in a nighttime post on the social platform X.

Missouri recorded more fatalities than any other state as it withstood scattered twisters overnight that killed at least 12, authorities said. The deaths included a man whose home was ripped apart by a tornado.

“It was unrecognizable as a home. Just a debris field,” said Coroner Jim Akers of Butler County, describing the scene that confronted rescuers. “The floor was upside down. We were walking on walls.”

Dakota Henderson said he and others rescuing people trapped in their homes Friday night found five bodies scattered in the debris outside what remained of his aunt's house in hard-hit Wayne County, Missouri.

“It was a very rough deal last night," he said Saturday, surrounded by uprooted trees and splintered homes. “It’s really disturbing for what happened to the people, the casualties last night."

Henderson said they rescued his aunt from a bedroom that was the only room left standing in her house, taking her out through a window. They also carried out a man who had a broken arm and leg.

Officials in Arkansas said three people died in Independence County and 29 others were injured across eight counties as storms passed through the state.

“We have teams out surveying the damage from last night’s tornadoes and have first responders on the ground to assist,” Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on X.

She and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared states of emergency. Kemp said he was making the declaration in anticipation of severe weather moving in later Saturday.

On Friday, meanwhile, authorities said three people were killed in car crashes during a dust storm in Amarillo in the Texas Panhandle.

The deaths came as a massive storm system moving across the country unleashed winds that triggered deadly dust storms and fanned more than 100 wildfires.

Extreme weather conditions were forecast to affect an area home to more than 100 million people. Winds gusting up to 80 mph (130 kph) were predicted from the Canadian border to Texas, threatening blizzard conditions in colder northern areas and wildfire risk in warmer, drier places to the south.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of far western Minnesota and far eastern South Dakota starting early Saturday. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches (7.6 to 15.2 centimeters) were expected, with up to a foot (30 centimeters) possible.

Winds gusting to 60 mph (97 kph) were expected to cause whiteout conditions.

Evacuations were ordered in some Oklahoma communities as more than 130 fires were reported across the state. Nearly 300 homes were damaged or destroyed. Gov. Kevin Stitt said at a Saturday news conference that some 266 square miles (689 square kilometers) had burned in his state.

The State Patrol said winds were so strong that they toppled several tractor-trailers.

Experts said it's not unusual to see such weather extremes in March.

The Storm Prediction Center said fast-moving storms could spawn twisters and hail as large as baseballs on Saturday, but the greatest threat would come from winds near or exceeding hurricane force, with gusts of 100 mph (160 kph) possible.

Significant tornadoes continued to hit Saturday. The regions at highest risk stretch from eastern Louisiana and Mississippi through Alabama, western Georgia and the Florida panhandle, the center said.

Bailey Dillon, 24, and her fiance, Caleb Barnes, watched a massive tornado from their front porch in Tylertown, Mississippi, about half a mile (0.8 km) away as it struck an area near Paradise Ranch RV Park.

They drove over afterward to see if anyone needed help and recorded a video depicting snapped trees, leveled buildings and overturned vehicles.

“The amount of damage was catastrophic,” Dillon said. “It was a large amount of cabins, RVs, campers that were just flipped over -- everything was destroyed.”

Paradise Ranch reported on Facebook that all its staff and guests were safe and accounted for, but Dillon said the damage extended beyond the ranch itself.

“Homes and everything were destroyed all around it,” she said. “Schools and buildings are just completely gone.”

Some of the imagery from the extreme weather has gone viral.

Tad Peters and his dad, Richard Peters, had pulled over to fuel up their pickup truck in Rolla, Missouri, Friday night when they heard tornado sirens and saw other motorists flee the interstate to park.

“Whoa, is this coming? Oh, it’s here. It’s here,” Tad Peters can be heard saying on a video. “Look at all that debris. Ohhh. My God, we are in a torn ...”

His father then rolled up the truck window. The two were headed to Indiana for a weightlifting competition but decided to turn around and head back home to Norman, Oklahoma, about six hours away, where they encountered wildfires.

Wildfires elsewhere in the Southern Plains threatened to spread rapidly amid warm, dry weather and strong winds in Texas, Kansas, Missouri and New Mexico.

A blaze in Roberts County, Texas, northeast of Amarillo, quickly blew up from less than a square mile (about 2 square kilometers) to an estimated 32.8 square miles (85 square kilometers), the Texas A&M University Forest Service said on X. Crews stopped its advance by Friday evening.

About 60 miles (90 kilometers) to the south, another fire grew to about 3.9 square miles (10 square kilometers) before its advance was halted in the afternoon.

High winds also knocked out power to more than 200,000 homes and businesses in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan, according the website poweroutage.us.

Shipkowski reported from Toms River, New Jersey; Walker from New York; and Reynolds from Louisville, Kentucky. Jeff Roberson in Wayne County, Missouri, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed.

A image of Jesus hangs displayed inside a home belonging to Tim Scott, who was standing near the image when his house was destroyed by a severe storm the evening before, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Dustin Halcom of the Cord Fire Department helps salvage what's left of the Walling Drug store Saturday, March 15, 2025 after it was destroyed by a severe storm that ripped through Cave City, Ark., late Friday night. (Staci Vandagriff/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

Tim Scott sits on the stairs of his home he was inside when it was destroyed during a severe storm the evening before Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Tim Scott, right, gets a hug from friend Jorden Harris outside Scott's home he was inside when it was destroyed during a severe storm the evening before Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A vehicle sits in front of a damaged home and debris from a severe storm Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A home is destroyed after a severe storm, Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

A vehicle sits in front of a damaged home and debris from a severe storm is seen Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Debris from a severe storm is scattered outside a damaged home Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Destruction from a severe storm is seen Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Destruction from a severe storm is seen Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Destruction from a severe storm is seen Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Wayne County, Mo. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Matt Wolff, left, works underneath his carport with the help of his father-in-law Dempsey Watson and friend Tyler Umbright, right, as they work to stabilize after a severe storm in Bridgeton, Mo., Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Marcus Cole embraces his daughters while standing in front of his destroyed home after a severe storm in Bridgeton, Mo., Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

Missy, who declined to give her last name, searches for photographs in a debris field behind a relative's home after a severe storm in Bridgeton, Mo., Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

People work through the debris of the Cave City Auto Parts store on Saturday, March 15, 2025 after a severe weather storm Friday night in Cave City, Ark. (Staci Vandagriff/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

In this photo provided by Missouri State Highway Patrol, a truck is damaged after a severe storm passed the area near Ozark County, Mo., early Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

In this photo provided by Missouri State Highway Patrol, a home is damaged after a severe storm passed the area near Ozark County, Mo., early Saturday, March 15, 2025. (Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

In this photo provided by Missouri State Highway Patrol, a building is damaged after a severe storm passed the area near Ozark County, Mo., late Friday, March 14, 2025. (Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

In this photo provided by Missouri State Highway Patrol, a home is damaged after a severe storm passed the area near Ozark County, Mo., late Friday, March 14, 2025. (Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

This image provided by shows aerials over the damage caused by the wildfires in Logan County, Okla. (KOCO via AP)

This image provided by shows aerials over the damage caused by the wildfires in Logan County, Okla. (KOCO via AP)

This image provided by shows aerials over the damage caused by the wildfires in Logan County, Okla. (KOCO via AP)

Debris covers the road during a severe storm passed the area north of Seymour, Mo., in Webster County late Friday, March 14, 2025. (Trooper Austin James/Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

Debris covers the road during a severe storm passed the area north of Seymour, Mo., in Webster County late Friday, March 14, 2025. (Trooper Austin James/Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

Debris covers the road during a severe storm passed the area north of Seymour, Mo., in Webster County late Friday, March 14, 2025. (Trooper Austin James/Missouri State Highway Patrol via AP)

A wildfire spreads through trees Friday, March 14, 2025, south of Langston, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

The Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on the campus of the University of Oklahoma is seen covered by dusk and smoke as wildfires spread across Oklahoma on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Families evacuated from wildfires near Norman, Okla. talk and watch the latest news information on tv at CrossPoint Church in Norman on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

A wildfire burns through a field Friday, March 14, 2025, south of Langston, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

A wildfire burns a home down on Friday, March 14, 2025, south of Langston, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Fire crews battle a wildfire Friday, March 14, 2025, south of Langston, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

This photo provided by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol shows a tractor-trailer overturned on highway US 183 just south of Hobart, Oklahoma on Thursday, March 13, 2025. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol via AP)

A wildfire burns at night on Friday, March 14, 2025, south of Langston, Okla. (AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)

Crews work to remove a large pine tree from Glencannon Drive after severe weather hit in Pico Rivera, Calif., Thursday, March 13, 2025. (David Crane/The Orange County Register via AP)

Mark Nelson, of Wis., waits with his tractor-trailer after it overturned during high winds and a possible tornado on Interstate 44 westbound at Villa Ridge, Mo., Friday, March 14, 2025. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)