Why me? Oh God why me? That has been the lamentation of Mr. Celestine Onwuliri who lost five members of his family including his wife, Magdalen, on Democracy Day eve.
Onwuliri’s wife and four of his children including his first son died in their sleep on that fateful day after inhaling generator fumes. But the 48-year old contract worker of a new generation bank has yet to recover from the ugly incident.
The distraught Onwuliri continuously peered into the vast sky with his hands folded tightly across his chest when our correspondent met with him in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. He once again muttered: “Why?” He shook his head in grief vehemently many times.
He was indeed lost in the hollowness of his thought. Everything that defined his existence appeared to have crumbled like a pack of cards. He sought reasons for his misfortune within his mind. Why will his world come crashing just when he thought he had everything under control?
He wondered why he had to bury his first son, Emmanuel, 13, his only daughter, Blessing, 9, and his four-year old twins, Mike and Mark on the same day. Besides the 35-year old wife he married 14 years ago is still lying in the mortuary waiting for her funeral.
Onwuliri sometimes blamed himself for not being around when the incident happened. He was in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, fending for his family when he was hit by the nasty blow. He rued his transfer from Yenagoa to Port Harcourt by the Guarantee Trust Bank where he worked on contractual basis as a technician.
“If not for the transfer, I would have been around my family and would have prevented the disaster. I don’t know whether I will be able to survive the disaster,” he cried.
“How do I survive without my wife of 14 years? He further recoiled recalling the last conversation he had with his late wife before the tragedy.
The enervated Onwuliri said, “On the 28th of May, the night preceding the morning that the incident occurred, I was discussing an issue with my wife on phone around 10pm, but due to unclear network, we said we should talk in the morning when perhaps the network should be better, I never knew that was the last discussion I was to have with my wife.
“On the following morning I called again around 6am as we agreed, and that has been my routine to call every morning since we are not together.
“Her phone rang up to five times but she did not pick. I then called my first son and his phone also rang severally he did not pick.
“I felt may be they were on morning devotion, so I decided to wait for some time before I could call again, but when l repeated, still nobody picked. I then knew that things were not normal, I decided to call my neighbors and asked them to go to my house and help me check what was wrong.
“My neighbors called me back to say they have knocked and checked but did not see or hear anybody. I then told them to slide the window and break the place to know what was wrong.
“I was still on phone with one of them when I heard a shout from my neighbors. It was then it became very clear to me that something serious and terrible has happened to my family especially when he said that l should come immediately to Yenagoa, but I never thought of generator fumes.”
It, however, became clear to him that generator fumes, that deadly carbon monoxide, was responsible for his misfortune. Members of his family inhaled the dangerous air that emanated from a room next to their bedroom.
The steaming generator was ignorantly kept in the room with all the doors and windows shut. The fumes circulated and stuffed all the rooms and became only the source of air for Onwuliri’s family members. The building belongs to the family.
The incident occurred at a time Yenagoa experienced a three-week power outage after thunderstorms destroyed a major transmission equipment. Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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Take heart,Sir.
ReplyDelete... my question is that how long did they inhale the fume till it killed 5 people that one of them (not even the mother) could not woke and find a way of leaving that room, even if it will take them 2 go 2 d next neigbour's room till d next morning??? Na wa o, Naija???
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Lord irwin, go and read up process n effects of carbon monoxide on man n haemoglobin... its not something dat chimes u... its a silent killer.. best killer during sleep.. u simply don't wake ip
ReplyDeleteLord twin, you don't have to be exposed for too long before carbonmonoxide takes effect in the blood. A little time as 5 mins is enough to cause fatality. What a tragedy! May the Lord console the poor man and may the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. KJoe
ReplyDeleteI am very touched by this unfortunate incident. My sincere condolences Sir. Notion Zimbabwe
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrible tragedy.
ReplyDeleteWe must continue to teach people of the dangers of keeping generators indoors. They are to be kept OUTSIDE!!
I hope some people would learn from this tragedy that could have been avoided.
May their souls rest in peace. Amen
ReplyDeletelet God take control
ReplyDeleteIts so sad, but all the same the names we answer in life contribute to our ups and down in life, it matters a lot but people due to ignorance overlook their names and pays attention to the things that will do them little or no good, this man's name(ONWULIRI) means (Death ate) in IGBO land the eastern part of Nigeria were he came from, unfortunately death ate his family when he was not around, let us pay attention to our names and ask God to change our name if it needs to be Changed just like Jabezz in the Bible did.
ReplyDeleteIts so sad, but all the same the names we answer in life contribute to our ups and down in life, it matters a lot but people due to ignorance overlook their names and pays attention to the things that will do them little or no good, this man's name(ONWULIRI) means (Death ate) in IGBO land the eastern part of Nigeria were he came from, unfortunately death ate his family when he was not around, let us pay attention to our names and ask God to change our name if it needs to be Changed just like Jabezz in the Bible did.
ReplyDelete