Pregnant woman dies after inhaling toxic fumes in Gombe

Category: News Published on Friday, 15 February 2013 05:00 Written by Adamu Saleh, Gombe

A pregnant woman has been confirmed dead while five others are currently receiving treatment at Doma Hospital in Gombe, after inhaling toxic fumes in Bogo area of Gombe metropolis.

According to Dr. B. Esan of Doma Hospital, six persons were brought in on Wednesday night unconscious. He said the fumes may have been from incense or some other source.

“As of Wednesday night, we could not get clear reasons for the incident, but this morning (yesterday) they were getting better and the only thing we could detect was fume inhalation; toxic fume inhalation. We are trying to find out what really caused it. I think it is a temporary thing, it is not something serious. The woman that died was pregnant, and you know that reduces her immunity,” he said.

Bilyaminu, one of the victims said at about 10:00pm, he was watching a game of soccer in the room with friend, Mohammed and his wife, and that shortly after he left them, his friend came to tell him that the wife was ill.

“We then started burning incense and she was crying. After a while, I noticed that my friend and his wife were shivering. Not too long, I also started shivering. At that point, I was the only one who could talk among the six of us in the house. But for some minutes, I could not stand on my feet, let alone walk. After a while, I was able to get up, so I opened the door and alerted neighbours”, he said.

When contacted, the state’s Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Fwaja Atajiri, said he was not aware of the incident, but will investigate and get back to newsmen.