A four-year-old Master Sunday Surnen has been confirmed dead while his mother and four other siblings were found unconscious in their room at Akaajime community in Ipav, Gwer local government area of Benue State.
Our correspondent gathered from an elder in the community who simply identified himself as James that the incident occurred overnight Wednesday when the family of six who had gone to bed on Tuesday night were found unconscious in their apartment on Wednesday morning.
James added that one of the victims, Master Surnen was confirmed dead on arrival at the hospital.
One of the siblings, Movihinze Terkura, who was not at home at the time of the tragedy, explained that she returned home in the morning because she was trapped by rain and was surprised to discover that her mother and siblings were still in the room with the door locked from inside, which was very unusual.
According to her, “After several attempts for them to open the door failed, I then forced the door open, only to discover that my mother and others were lying unconscious.”
She stressed that it was at that point that she raised an alarm for the attention of neighbours “who helped me convey the victims to the nearest hospital.”
Terkura explained that, “But before the victims were taken to hospital, my younger brother of four years, master Sunday Surnen, was confirmed dead”.
She said that cannot attribute anything to the incident but said she noticed an unusually harsh smell of chemical in the room.
According to Terkura, the family did not a gas cooker in the room nor use insecticide as they were constantly using mosquito nets.
There has not been any cause blamed for the incident as at the time of filing this report.
When contacted, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Udeme Edet did not answer her calls and text message sent to her phone by our correspondent was not replied at the time of this report.
