By Abimbola Ogunnaike
At least seven persons lost their lives after inhaling fumes from a generating set inside a music studio along Transformer road in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The deceased persons were said to be working in the studio, owned by one of them identified as Akpos Barakubo, when the incident happened on the night of Monday, 20 May, 2024.
According to the residents of the area, the crew members in the studio had worked into the midnight, putting on the generating set due to poor power supply, and slept off in the process.
It was gathered that six bodies were recovered in the morning, while one person, who was unconscious and rushed to a hospital, later gave up.
It was also gathered that most of the victims were students at a university in Delta State and were into music recording to fund their schooling.
As of the time of filing the report, security operatives had cordoned off the area, while the corpses had been evacuated to a mortuary.
A resident of the area, Mr Damion Asamonye, blamed the state and federal governments as well as power distribution company for the incident, saying if there was adequate power supply, there would not have been any need for using generator at night.
He said, “Both federal and state governments have failed us. If there was public power supply, maybe these people wouldn’t have lost their lives in this circumstance.
“Seven able bodied young men just died like that because of the failure of government. The most annoying thing is that soon, the PHED (Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company) personnel will come to disconnect power 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 electricity bills?
Another resident, Mrs Joy Reuben, said the community woke up on Tuesday morning to the tragic incident, calling on the government to ensure that there is adequate power supply in the state.
As at the time of filing this report, Bayelsa State Police Command has yet to comment on the sad development.
