Couple, three children vomits blood, dies after rice meal

Five members of a family at Umuatuegwu Okija, Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State, yesterday died mysteriously after eating a meal of rice.

The victims include a commercial motorcycle operator, Albert Ndenemenu, his wife, Nwanne and their three children. Nwanne was the last to die amongst all the victims.

Although the cause of death is still unclear, but story making the round is that they died as a result of food poison.

An eye witness, who wishes to remain anonymous, explained that Nwanne, who was the last to die, prepared rice as lunch for the family, which they all ate. A few minutes after the rice meal, they all started vomiting blood.

The eye witness said: “In fact, it was the mother of the children that raised the alarm. People in the village rushed into their compound and discovered that they were already dead. The woman, on seeing the lifeless bodies of her husband and children, collapsed and was rushed to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, (NAUTH), Nnewi where she also died.”

An indigene of the area, Sir Ignatius Okonkwo, who spoke with journalists, said that the cause of death was yet to unknown.

He said that efforts made to prevail on the authorities of NAUTH, where the bodies were first deposited to conduct an autopsy on the dead persons failed.

A family member was said to have moved the bodies to mortuary. But when news filtered that the whole family members could have been poisoned, the man return the bodies to their home and lined them up. Other family members came and ensured the bodies were moved to mortuary.

It was however gathered that three distant relations of the diseased family were yesterday invited by the police at the Okija Police Station, where they are being interrogated.

The Anambra State Command, Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs. Nkiru Nwode, who confirmed the incident, said everyone was now waiting for autopsy.