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Tragic! Family of five dies after eating rice

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A family of five gave up the ghost in a day after a rice meal in Umutuegwu Okija community, in the Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State.

The victims were identified as Albert Ndenemenu, a commercial motorcyclist; his wife, Nwanne, and their three children, whose names are yet to be identified.

Albert and his family had eaten the rice, which was reportedly prepared by his wife, after he returned from work on Wednesday, August 9, 2017. But after the meal, the victims started vomiting blood and dropping dead.

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According to Punch, a resident, who pleaded anonymity said, “The man had just returned from his work when the wife finished preparing the food. As soon as the man and the three children finished eating, they started dying one after the other. They were all vomiting blood.”

Another witness, said Nnwanne, after watching her husband and three children die, collapsed and died as well.

“She was the one that raised the alarm when she saw her family dying one after the other. When people rushed into their compound following her alarm, it was discovered that they were already dead.

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“The woman, on seeing the lifeless bodies of her husband and children, slumped and was taken to the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi, where she also died,” the source stated.

Ignatius Okonkwo, an indigene of the community, told Punch correspondent that the cause of death of the family of five had yet to be ascertained.

He explained that efforts made to prevail on the management of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, where the victims were confirmed dead, to conduct autopsies on the deceased, proved abortive.

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It was learnt that a relative of the family was about depositing the corpses in a mortuary when stories started making the rounds that the victims were poisoned by some residents.

The relative reportedly took the five dead bodies back to the house, where they were lined up in the open for several hours before some members of the family took them to the mortuary.

It was gathered that three distant relations of the deceased persons had been invited by the police and were being interrogated at the Okija Police Station.

The spokesperson for the Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Chris Ngige, denied that the hospital did not cooperate with the family.

He said, “Some people just complain without knowing what they are talking about. You can’t just enter a hospital and say you want to do an autopsy. Is it based on referral or it is the police that want to find out something? Is it a criminal matter? Something must have warranted it and there is a process to follow.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mrs. Nkeiru Nwode, confirmed the incident, adding that investigations were ongoing and only autopsies can show what actually happened.