FOUR people have died from a diarrhoeal disease suspected to be cholera that has broken out in Chipili District of Luapula Province.

Chipili Member of Parliament (MP) Davies Mwila confirmed this in an interview yesterday after he visited the affected areas.

"Four people have died at Kabongo Village in Chipili but the district health office is yet to establish whether or not it is from a cholera outbreak," he said.

Mr Mwila said the outbreak was reported last week and that a team from the Mwense District Health Office was yet to conclude investigations.

Mwense District Commissioner, Victor Kasuba said in a separate interview that only one person had died from severe diarrhoea after taking suspected contaminated water.

"The outbreak in Chipili is not cholera, it is a mere diarrhoeal outbreak and only one person died from it because she drank contaminated water," he said.

Mr Kasuba, however, confirmed one cholera case at Mukabi Village.

Luapula Provincial medical officer, Elicoh Bwalya confirmed that one person had died while four others were admitted to Mukonshi Health Centre near Chipili after a suspected cholera outbreak in the area.

Dr Bwalya said he was yet to receive reports from other health centres where medical personnel were investigating suspected cholera outbreaks.