5 Pupils suffocate to death

HELL was let loose at Guest-In area in Doma, Doma Local Government Area of Nasarawa State on Tuesday when five pupils from two different families were found dead in a car, as a result of suffocation.

The deceased pupils, four boys and one girl, were said to be between two and seven years old.

Investigations revealed that the incident which happened on Tuesday afternoon shortly after the pupils returned from school, threw the whole community into commotion, as sympathisers trooped in to console the deceaseds’ families. The children were buried on Wednesday.

It was learnt further that the children accidentally locked themselves inside the abandoned car in their compound. Eyewitnesses told us that the car had been abandoned for so long, before the incident happened.

According to an eyewitness,  Halima Abdullahi: “I once told the owner of the house to always lock the car, because there was a time those children entered the car, I came out and dragged them away. I asked the man to lock it because it will cause a terrible thing. You can see what happened now.”

Narrating his ordeal to our correspondent, the father of two children among the deceased, Mr. Haliru Mohammed, said his neighbour’s wife rushed down to intimate him about the  incident.

According to him: “The wife of my neighbour rushed and told me that two of my sons were dead. I rushed home and I met the five children lying down. They died in my neighbour’s house.

There is a car in the house that got spoilt and the children used to play inside the car when they came back from school. The door of the car closed and they were unable to open it.”

Also speaking, Mr Hudu Umar Waziri,  Ibrahim Waziri’s brother, the father of the three other children, confirmed that the children died as a result of suffocation.

Another eyewitness who did not want her name in  print said efforts to ensure that the owner of the car relocates or locks it permanently were unsuccessful, as he continued to give flimsy excuses.

Confirming the incident by phone, the chairman of the local government, Salihu Ishaka Ogah, attributed it to negligence on the part of the parents and advised them, especially nursing mothers, to always monitor their wards. He lamented that it was sad to lose promising children.

Speaking through the Information Officer, Mr Usman Muh’d Musa, the chairman, therefore, warned all the owners of abandoned cars to always lock them so as to prevent future recurrence.

“This incident happened as a result of suffocation. If the owner of the car had locked it and those children did not have access to it, the incident would have been abated. So wherever the car is parked, the owner must ensure that it is well locked.”

When contacted by phone on Thursday in Lafia, the State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr Michael Ada said the incident was not reported to the command.