Generator fume kills 25-yr-old tea seller in Lagos

Tragedy struck in Egbeda area of
Lagos State, in the early hours of Thursday,
when a man, simply identified as Mutairu, an
indigene of Sokoto State, was found dead in
his makeshift apartment.
Mutairu, a petty trader, who specialized in
selling noodles and tea at 83, Egbeda-Idimu
Road, was said to have been killed by fume
from a generating set he put in his room
while sleeping.
The incident was reported to the police at
the Area “M” Command, Idimu.
According to an eyewitness and a close
friend of the deceased, simply identified as
Kabiru, Mutairu was killed by fume from his
generating set which he left running in his
room till dawn.
Kabiru said: “Mutairu is a native of Sokoto, in
Ilela Town. He has been doing Maishai
business (tea seller) for many years here. A
lot of people knew him as a dutiful fellow
who related well with everyone irrespective
of class, religion or ethnic background.
“We were surprised to find him dead this
morning (yesterday). Somebody just called
to inform me that I should run down to
Mutairu’s house as he could not be found
around which was unusual.
“When I got there, we knocked repeatedly
on his door without response but we could
hear the sound of a generator working
inside.
“After a while, we decided to climb the roof
of the makeshift building because the three
doors leading to his room were locked.
“We broke into the room and right before
us was the lifeless body of Mutairu on the
bed. We quickly put off the generator as the
entire room had been saturated with the
fume.
“We could not apply any first aid to revive
him because he was already dead. It is so
painful. Probably, he was unaware of the
inherent danger in keeping generator
working inside a house.”
The remains of the deceased was later taken
to his home town in Sokoto State.