2 Darfur women die in collapse at latrine dig site

Two refugee women died when latrine pits collapsed during digging Tuesday at Abu Shouk camp for displaced people in Darfur. The victims were Zeinab Mohamed Isaa and Mariam Hassan, who working on the Oxfam-supported sanitation project.Witnesses said Zeinab, who was four months pregnant, and Mariam, a nursing mother, were digging a hole for a latrine. The earth collapsed, killing them both. Another woman, Umm Kulthum Adam, suffered severe injuries and was transferred to the hospital.

The displaced people blamed Oxfam for not doing its duty, saying that the organization should have been doing the digging and should have taken all safety procedures. Instead, the organization told the displaced people to drill the hole themselves and promised to complete the final phase of pouring cement. 

The refugees said that the men refused to drill due to the lack of safety procedure but the women insisted on digging the pits after the latrines in the camp got filled up. The collapse was not the first of its kind as there had been five collapses during the drilling process. Eight people have died in this type of work but this is the first time that the lives of women have been claimed in the drilling operations.