Friday, March 29, 2024

Mystery as 3 siblings die same day

…as community consults spiritualists

Two months after three male teenage siblings died mysteriously, following suspected food poisoning, the Obollodioka Nzerem community in the Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State has yet to unravel the circumstances that led to their death.

The victims, Chisom, Chinedu and Chibueze Onwuchekwa, died after eating suspected poisoned food.

Some elders of the embattled community, who pleaded anonymity, said the investigations would continue until the circumstances that led to the bizarre incident were unraveled

But the community, according to sources close to the family, is still bent on finding out if someone actually poisoned the kids, who vomited before giving up the ghost.

However, latest laboratory report indicated “food poisoning”.

It was gathered that the community has vowed to continue its own investigations.

Already, many spiritualists have been consulted by the community over the incident.

Some elders of the embattled community, who pleaded anonymity, said the investigations would continue until the circumstances that led to the bizarre incident were unraveled.

Narrating their family’s ordeal, Godwin Onwuchekwa and his wife, Amaka, said they had yet to overcome the shock that resulted from the circumstances that led to the death of their children on July 24, 2017.

The couple said they had left for their farm without the kids, whose ages ranged between 9 and 11 (Chisom and Chinedu were twins).

According to them, having concluded their farming activities for the day, they became apprehensive on getting near their house to observe an unusual gathering of villagers in their compound.

However, on arrival, they were shocked to meet their hapless kids vomiting and unconscious.

“We quickly ferried them to a nearby hospital for urgent medical attention,” the distraught parents said.

Godwin and Amaka were reportedly assisted by a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Gregory Ihezie, who took them and their kids to the Mbano Joint hospital in the Isiala Mbano Council Area of the state, where a laboratory test was conducted.

It was at the hospital that laboratory test eventually proved that it was a case of food poisoning.

It was learnt that the hospital authorities made frantic efforts to save the kids, but failed.

Consequently, the kids were rushed to the FMC in Owerri, where a fresh laboratory test was conducted on them, but they died the next day.

The grieving parents said that the community had resolved to do all within its powers to unravel the source of the poison that killed their children.

The father of the kids, Godwin, said that though the occurrence was painful, he had not suspected anybody over the tragedy and had resigned to fate.

The Divisional Police Officer in charge of Ehime Mbano LGA could not be reached, but a source said that the matter was still being investigated by the police.

However, a source at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, Imo State, on Wednesday confirmed that the kids actually died of food poisoning.

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