Generator Fumes kill 7 in Bayelsa
Resident of Ebi’s Mechanic road, Amarata in Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, were on Tuesday thrown into mourning after the decomposing bodies of seven friends were found in a music studio apartment.
The tragic incident, suspected to have been caused by generator fumes of the studio owned by one of the deceased identified as Akpos Barakubo, occurred after their studio section, and they decided to have a little rest in the apartment.
It was gathered that six bodies were later discovered dead in the morning, while one who was unconscious and rushed to the hospital later gave up.
According to the residents of the area, the crew members in the studio were working into the midnight using their generating set due to poor power supply in the state, and maybe they feel asleep and forgot to switch off the generator.
It was also gathered that most of the deceased are undergraduates students from the Niger Delta University,NDU, who are into the recording business to help themselves in school.
A resident of the area, Mr Damion Asamonye, blamed the State and Federal governmyents as well as power distribution company for the death of the people, saying if there was adequate power supply, there wouldn’t have been any need for generator at night.
He lamented the situation in Bayelsa State where Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company,PHED, will only bring light when they want to collect bills and took it away shortly after customers pay the bills.
He said: “Both Federal and State government have failed us, if there was public power supply, maybe these people wouldn’t have lost their lives in this circumstances.
“Seven able bodied young men just died like that because of the failure of government, most annoying thing is that tomorrow, the PHED personnel will come with ladder to disconnect light that they are not supplying, how can people be spending their money in fueling generators despite the current hardship in Nigeria, even after paying for light bills.?
Another resident in the area, Mrs Joy Reuben, said the whole neighborhood woke up on Tuesday morning to witness the tragic incident, calling on government to ensure that there is adequate power supply in the state, so that citizens will not be allowed to die in such circumstances again.
As at the time of filling the report, security operatives have cordoned off the area, while the corpses are been evacuated to the mortuary.
