May 21, (THEWILL) – About seven persons have lost their lives after inhaling the fumes from a generator inside a music studio, along Transformer road, in Amarata axis of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The deceased persons were said to be working in the recording studio, owned by one of them, identified as Akpos Barakubo, where the incident happened on Monday night.
According to the residents of the area, the crew members in the studio were working into the night using their generating set, due to poor power supply in the state, and maybe they fell asleep and forgot to switch off the generator.
Newsmen gathered that six bodies were later discovered dead in the morning, while one, who was unconscious and rushed to the hospital, later gave up.
It was also gathered that most of the deceased are undergraduate students from the Niger Delta University (NDU), who are into the recording business to help themselves in school.
At the time of filing the report, security operatives have cordoned off the area, while the corpses have been evacuated to the mortuary.
A resident of the area, Mr Damion Asamonye, blamed the state and federal governments as well as the power distribution company for the death of the people, saying if there was adequate power supply, there wouldn’t have been any need for a 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 take them away shortly after customers pay the bills.
He said, “Both Federal and State governments have failed us, if there was a public power supply, maybe these people wouldn’t have lost their lives in these circumstances.
“Seven able-bodied young men just died like that because of the failure of the government. The most annoying thing is that tomorrow, the PHED personnel will come with a ladder to disconnect light that they are not supplying, how can people be spending their money on fuel generators despite the current hardship in Nigeria, even after paying for light bills.?
Another resident in the area, Mrs Joy Reuben, said the neighbourhood woke up on Tuesday morning to witness the tragic incident, calling on the 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.
When contacted, the police spokesman in Bayelsa State, ASP Musa Muhammed, promised to find out and give feedback.
About the Author
Amos Okioma is a Correspondent at THEWILL
