Three sisters and their cousin have been reportedly killed in their sleep by generator fumes at Aghoro, Ekeremor Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.
It was gathered that the incident, which occurred at the weekend, threw the community into mourning.
The deceased were said to be primary school pupils identified as the children of Demedogha London and Stephen Binasuode.
The Nation learnt that the deadly fumes emanated from a new generator placed at the balcony of Demedogha’s bungalow.
Explaining how the incident occurred, Demedogha, whose compound was besieged by sympathisers, said he kept the generator at the balcony far from the room of the girls.
He, however, said when he woke up at 6am the next day, he discovered that the generator had shifted close to the door of the girl’s room.
The distraught father said he found that the floor tiles aided the movement of the generator adding that the girls were already dead when he rushed to their room.
He said: “The generator was outside but it was on tiles. The generator shifted close to the door. At about 6 am, I came out to put off the generator and saw that it was close to the door. Eventually when I entered the room I saw that all the children were dead”.
A chief in Aghoro community, who identified himself as Etiti described the incident as painful and said the community would create awareness on dangers of generator fumes.
But a resident, Victor, said the devastating incident would not have occurred if there had been electricity in the community.
He said the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) commenced an electrification project in the area but later abandoned it.
“Shell is doing an electrification project but the work stopped a long time ago. I appeal to shell to embark on the project so that this community can have light to avoid this kind of incident,” he said.
