By Junior Silver,Silvertongue78@gmail.com
Another tragic loss of lives from generator fumes due to inhaling of Carbon monoxide has again hit a Liberian community, this time claiming the lives of five persons in the Monrovia suburb of Paynesville.
On Tuesday, March 3, 2020, residents of Du-port Road, Cow-field Community, when they rushed to one of their neigbour’s home to discover five occupants dead, after being exposed to the dangerous fumes.
The five victims of the disaster have been identified as Owena Allison, age 40; Red Sherman; Hunti Robert, age 15, Marie Allison, age 17, and Manash Hassanin, age 9.
In tears, Patience Sherman, a sister of one of the victims, Owena Allison, said that she had chatted with the deceased from 10:00 P.M. Monday night to 12:00 a. m. Tuesday morning and fell asleep.
“She told me on the phone that since LEC is not active, I am using my generator. I told her to put the generator outside and she said yes, but she did not due to streets thugs’ presence in the day and in the night in the community. When day broke, their doors: both back and front doors were closed. To my surprised, the bike rider who usually takes one of the children to school came to me and asked where the little girl I usually carried to school is? I went on her campus; she was not there and her house is still locked,” Madam Sherman disclosed.
She and the motorcyclist rushed to the house to find out why her sister and four children were still in bed. But after reaching there, she observed that there was complete silence. And blew alarm, after which neighbors came and used hammer to open body iron door and the plywood door.
When they entered the two-bedroom apartment, the four children in the room opposite their mother’s door were lying dead as did their mother.
The mother was lying dead in her room near the wall. It was observed that because of the generator smoke, they suffocated to death, causing more of them to have foam in their noses.
A classmate of the woman, Marie Allison, along with the dean of student of the William W. Pauline School went to the deceased’s house to ascertain why she did not go to school on Tuesday.
But before they arrived at the deceased’s house, a large crowd had converged in the yard, breaking the tragic news of what had happened.
However, police officers and family members of the five dead prevented journalists from photographing the remains.
Mr. Allison, the father of the girl victims, broke down when he saw his daughters, Owena Allison, Marie Allison, rushed to the hospital and being pronounced dead.
Family member, neighbours and other bye standers were in tears, as the ambulance ferried the corpses from the.