Kerosene fumes kills father, son in Rivers

By OBINNA NWAOKU, Port Harcourt

A father and his son have died after inhaling kerosene fumes while trying to manually drain a filled septic tank at Road Five in Rumuekini Community, Obio-Akpor Council, Rivers State.

The Guardian learnt that one of the men who was initially hired as an electrician by the owner of the house offered to drain the septic tank alongside another when he got wind that it was filled.

However, they met their death in the early hours of yesterday, after pouring kerosene in the septic tank also known as soakaway, to absorb the smell but got choked by its fumes.

An eyewitness who gave her name as Ruth, said: “The man bought things for the job not knowing it was kerosene and it was choking that I had to run out to call people for help.”

Some residents in the area including the commander of the local vigilante of the community, John Chinda, explained: “We perceived kerosene odour but we do not know yet what exactly caused the death.

“Electricians cannot evacuate sewages, it’s a job for professionals who use tanker and it’s not manually done. From what I saw, I observed that they were bailing the contents in the soakaway with hand, which was why they probably got choked and died in the suckaway.”

Another eyewitness, known as Happiness, said: “People were looking for ladders to go into the suckaway to save them but it was too late before they could think of other means to access it.”

The owner of the building confirmed that the victims were father and son, adding that she has reported the matter to the police in Choba Area Command.
Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the Choba police operatives have evacuated the bodies from the septic tank. (The Guardian)