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Tragic Generator Fumes Claim Seven Lives In Bayelsa Music Studio

Published

10 months ago

May 22, 2024.

Seven people, including Niger Delta University students, died from suspected generator fumes in a music studio in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
The victims, working overnight, fell asleep without turning off the generator, leading to the tragic incident.
A local resident blamed the government and the electricity company for inadequate power supply, which necessitated the use of the generator.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that seven individuals, including several students from Niger Delta University, Yenagoa, were found dead in a music studio on Tuesday morning after inhaling suspected generator fumes.

The music studio, located on Transformer Road in the Amarata area of Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, was operated by one of the deceased, Akpos Barakubo.

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The victims were working in the studio on Monday night and fell asleep due to exhaustion, without turning off the generator, leading to the tragic incident.

Six corpses were discovered in the morning, and a seventh person, initially unconscious, was rushed to the hospital but later died.

Security operatives cordoned off the area while the bodies were evacuated to the mortuary.

A local resident, Damion Asamonye, blamed the federal and state governments, as well as the Port Harcourt Power Electricity Distribution Company, for the deaths. He argued that if there had been an adequate power supply, the generator wouldn’t have been needed.

Asamonye lamented the situation in Bayelsa State, where the electricity distribution company often only supplies power when collecting bills, taking it away shortly after payments are made.

He said, “Both the federal and state governments have failed us. If there was a public power supply, maybe these people wouldn’t have lost their lives in this circumstance.

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“Seven able-bodied young men just died like that because of the failure of government. The most annoying thing is that tomorrow, the PHED officials will come with a ladder to disconnect the light that they are not supplying. How can people be spending their money on fueling generators despite the current hardship in Nigeria, even after paying bills?”

Another resident, Joy Reuben, said the neighbourhood woke up on Tuesday morning to witness the tragic incident and called on the state government to ensure that there was adequate power supply in the state so that the citizens would not be allowed to die in such circumstances again.