Seven people were found dead inside a music studio in Bayelsa State on Tuesday, suspected to have died from inhaling generator fumes.
The studio, located along Transformer Road in the Amarata area of Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, was operated by one of the deceased, Akpos Barakubo.
Barakubo was reportedly working in the studio on Monday night and fell asleep due to exhaustion without turning off the generator, leading to the tragic incident.
Six bodies were discovered in the morning, and a seventh person, initially found unconscious, was rushed to the hospital but later died.
It was reported that many of the deceased were undergraduate students of Niger Delta University involved in music.
Security operatives have cordoned off the area, and the bodies have been taken to the mortuary.
Local resident Damion Asamonye blamed the federal and state governments and the Port Harcourt Power Electricity Distribution Company for the deaths, citing inadequate power supply as the reason for the reliance on generators.
Asamonye criticized the situation in Bayelsa State, where the electricity distribution company often only provides power when collecting bills and cuts it off shortly after.
“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,” Asamonye lamented. “Seven able-bodied young men just died because of the government’s failure. The most annoying thing is that tomorrow, the PHED personnel will come with a ladder to disconnect electricity that they are not supplying. How can people be spending their money on fueling generators despite the current hardship in Nigeria, even after paying light bills?”
Another resident, Joy Reuben, said the neighborhood woke up on Tuesday morning to witness the tragic incident and called on the government to ensure adequate power supply to prevent such tragedies in the future.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Musa Muhammed, promised to investigate and provide further information.