FOUR FAMILY MEMBERS DIE AFTER ‘AMALA’ MEAL IN ILORIN

It was gathered from a source that the victims took the meal on Sunday night before three of them were found dead the following morning, while the fourth casualty, who was the head of the family, died on Wednesday.

“Those feared dead are the family head, his sister and two children, while those recuperating in the hospital are the mother and three other children. The corpses of the deceased had been buried in accordance with Islamic rite. They were eight that took the meal’, the source said.

“Though we are not sure yet of the cause of death, there is a suspicion that they died of poisoning. Officials from the State Ministry of Health were in the community to take samples of the meal for test but nothing was yet to be said of the findings,’’ the source added.

Penpushing further reports that, Director, Public Health and Disease Control in the  Ministry of Health, Oluwatosin Fakayode confirmed the incident,and  however, said that the Ministry was yet to identify the cause of the “ugly and unfortunate occurrence.”

The Director added that samples from the meal were taken for laboratory investigation, which would be out within the next 24 hours,stating that,“as it stands, it is difficult to say the cause until the result is ou’t.

“However, we are definite that it is food poison because of the symptoms, but we are not sure of the food item that is culpable. We learnt they took these amphibian that they hawk around with it. So we are not sure if it is the source of the death because some of them are poisonous’.

“Though we have not identified the culprit in terms of whether it is organism or chemical, definitely, it is a symptom of food poison. But our suspicion is the amphibian. It could be preservatives that were used on the items that were used for the meal,’’ he said.

Penpushing reports that as at the time of filing this report, the Kwara State Police Command spokesman Ajayi Okasanmi, said the command was not aware of the incident.