Three members of a family residing at the Olorisaoko Compound, Osogbo, Osun State, were found dead in their home in the early hours of Thursday as a result of generator fumes.
Although their death was blamed on many factors, including the last meal ate by the late police Sergeant Mary Samuel and her family, but security sources said the victims might have been killed by generator fumes.
A security source, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that the late Samuel had a torch in her hand when security men gained access to her apartment, adding that she must have slumped while heading towards the direction of the kitchen, where a generator was kept.
Others found dead in the apartment located on the ground floor of a storey building behind the Osogbo Central Mosque apart from Samuel, were her daughter, Abigail, and her grandchild, whose name could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report.
Another victim, identified as Jumoke, said to be the eldest daughter of Samuel, it was learnt was revived at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology Teaching Hospital, Osogbo, before she was transferred to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife for further treatment.
According to findings, the husband of the deceased is also a policeman and is presently serving outside Osun State.
An eyewitness said the attention of people in the neighbourhood was drawn to the apartment of the deceased by the cry of her four-month old granddaughter few minutes before 7am.
A neighbour of the deceased said, “Someone from the next flat to hers had gone to Mrs Samuel’s apartment to ask for money for electricity. But when she got to the door, it was locked and the cry of one of her grandchildren could be heard.
“The person that went there became worried that no one was attending to the crying baby and she alerted others in the neighbourhood. The entrance door to the apartment was later broken and people went in.
Samuel was found almost naked and she was confirmed dead at LAUTECH. Two others were dead too. But Jumoke, the eldest daughter of the deceased, who came around with her two children last weekend, was revived at LAUTECH and has been rushed to the OAUTH, Ile-Ife.
“The only person not affected by the fumes was a four-month-old granddaughter of the deceased. She was taken away by neighbours as the corpses of the others were being evacuated.”
Samuel, said to be an indigene of Ekiti State, was married to another policeman from Kogi State and served at the Works Department of the Osun State Police Command until her death.
The remains of the deceased were deposited in the morgue of LAUTECH, Osogbo.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the Osun State Command, Folasade Odoro, said carbon monoxide emission from a generator was “reasonably suspected to have been the cause of the death.”