Emmanuel Thomas l Thursday, August 16, 2018
PORT HARCOURT, Rivers, Nigeria – Tragedy struck in Igboetche community, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, killing five people in a family of six. They all died in their sleep after inhailing fumes from a standby generator. Five members of the family, namely, Andrew Monye ; his wife , Onyinye Monye; and three of their four children died from the generator fume on Monday, 13, August, 2018.
The children that lost their lives include two girls ( 15 and 11 years old) and a five-year – old boy. The only child that survived is 13 years old, who has been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical attention. We gathered that the family had put on their generator and left it in the bathroom before going to bed. The fumes emitted permeated through the apartment, eventually killing the deceased.
“Five out of the six family members died in their sleep as a result of generator fumes . The generator was kept in their bathroom and the carbon monoxide that the generator emitted must be responsible for their death”, an eye witness told www.starconnectmedia.com.
A member of the community said the generator was in the past kept outside the family apartment, but the family decided to take it inside the bathroom because of the high rate of stealing in the community.
“They decided to take the generator inside because there is a law that generators should be put off by 11 pm . The law came up because of the stealing in the community. What happened was shocking; a family of five died just like that. I suspect that they put the generator inside the house because of the stealing and other crimes in our village.”
“When we forced the door open , we saw them dead . That was why we reported it at the Umuebele Police Station . It was the police that took the bodies to the mortuary . As an Etche youth , I want the police to increase their work here and help us in arresting the criminals disturbing us ; we are suffering , ” a resident , Uche , said.
“ The deceased were foaming in their mouths and some of them had vomited. It was the surviving child that alerted the house builders opposite their compound that his parents and siblings did not wake up from sleep. They followed him inside the building and found the family dead. They also alerted their neighbours who informed the police about the tragedy. The police took the corpses to a mortuary.”
Police Public Relations Officer, Nnamdi Omoni, who confirmed the incident stated that the Police had begun investigation to unravel the circumstances that led to their death.
