(Photo/CGTN)

Zambia has rejected a husband's request for bail to be granted to his pregnant wife, one of five women among 31 Chinese nationals arrested in the African country, local Chinese-language newspaper Chinese in Africa reported on Sunday.

According to China's Foreign Ministry, Zambian authorities arrested the 31 employees of seven China-owned mining companies on Thursday for illegal mining. However, the Foreign Ministry claims that Zambian authorities have failed to follow correct law enforcement procedures, and have not provided strong incriminating evidence.

The 31 Chinese have been in detention for over 72 hours, exceeding the 24-hour legislative limit on detentions in Zambia, but no one has been released yet.

The detained two-months-pregnant woman traveled from China to visit her husband who works at one of the companies. There are growing concerns over her health condition. Her husband was not arrested because he was not working on the day that the 31 Chinese nationals were taken into custody, said the local newspaper.

The company filed a bail request for the pregnant woman on behalf of her husband, which was rejected by Zambian authorities, the local newspaper reported.

Lin Songtian, director-general of the Department of African Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, on Sunday urged Zambia to release the detainees.