Generator fumes kill family

2009-01-06 19:12

Ohaji-Egbema - Toxic fumes from a small power generator killed 13 members of a family, including four children, as they slept in a remote village in southeastern Nigeria, relatives said on Tuesday.

The family, gathered for Christmas and New Year holidays, had been using the generator to power a television set but forgot to switch it off before going to bed, one of the relatives said.

"In the morning, nobody came out to join us in sweeping the compound, so we opened one of the windows and saw our relations lying dead, 13 of them," said Majesta Oluwo, whose brother and sister-in-law and their four children were among the victims.

Despite Nigeria's oil wealth, its power system is in a shambolic state due to decades of corruption and mismanagement.

Much of Nigeria goes without mains electricity for weeks at a time, leaving Nigerians to rely on gasoline-powered generators.

Doctor Oliver Ahamba from the local hospital in Ohaji-Egbema government district, near Owerri in Imo state, said the 13 family members were killed by carbon monoxide inhalation.

Last July, at least 17 people died at a prayer meeting in a remote village in the nearby state of Abia after apparently inhaling noxious fumes from their power generator while they slept.

- Reuters