Generator fumes kill 80-year-old woman, four grandchildren
Sorrow and sadness on Thursday enveloped
Robiyan, near Ijoko in Ifo Local Government, Ogun State as residents
discovered the lifeless bodies of an 80 year-old woman, identified as
Madam Kuburat, and her four grandchildren, including a toddler in a
newly completed house.
Five other people who slept in the house
were in critical conditions at two general hospitals as doctors battle
to save their lives.
Although there were different accounts
of what could have caused their death, the Divisional Police Officer of
Agbado Police Station, Mr. Okere Daniel, suspected it could be fumes
from a generator.
The DPO said, “From the physical
examination of the victims, it is obvious that they must have died of
carbon monoxide, all foaming from the mouth; this means that they must
be gasping (for breath).
“A similar thing happened at Obadofin in
2010, when I was a DPO at Alafia. A whole family was wiped off. It was
during a festive period like this; they put on the generator and locked
it up inside the house for use overnight.”
It was learnt that the generator which
was placed in the veranda of the house must have worked overnight while
the doors and windows were locked.
Apart from the 10 people, a man and his
wife also in the house were said to have rushed their child to a nearby
community hospital at midnight when they found her gasping for breath.
We learnt that it was
the woman that reportedly cried out and alerted the whole community to
the tragedy when she returned in the morning and found everybody
“sleeping.”
The traditional ruler of the area, Chief
Olu Kujore, said he ordered his men to break into the house and forced
the windows open.
Kujore said, “We hurriedly rushed those
who were still breathing to the hospital. Some of them were taken to Ota
General Hospital while others were taken to Ifako General Hospital.
“But two of the kids died before they could be attended to at the hospital and their corpses had to be returned to the house.”
One of our correspondents saw the five dead victims before they were taken to the Ota General Hospital for autopsy.
Another resident of the area, who
identified himself as Baba Michael, said no fewer than five bricklayers
with different sets of workers handled the construction of the house.
“During the construction, three times, a section of the house had collapsed and had to be re-erected,” he said.
A young lady, Amina Disu, who said she
was Kuburat’s grandchild, said they had come to the village for the
Christmas and New Year festivities.
She recalled that they prepared rice for
the family and their neighbours on Wednesday before she left for
business at Mushin in Lagos.
Disu said, “My mother had a protracted
battle with two other people over the ownership of the land before she
eventually built it. And we went through hell to get the job done.
“My mother was a fish seller at Mushin.
We only came to celebrate the Christmas and New Year with granny. My
brother, his wife and their children were around too. It was a full
house. I was here yesterday (Wednesday). We had fun and had to serve
food to our neighbours.”
She said she was surprised when her granny’s neighbours called her to inform her about the incident.
Police Public Relations Officer in Ogun
State, Muyiwa Adejobi, who confirmed the incident, said the matter would
be investigated.
“The fumes were discovered to have got
into the house through the veranda where it was placed. Three of the
victims had died before they got to the hospital, while two others also
died later in the hospital. Five others, who were affected, are
currently recuperating,” he said.
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