Tragedy In Lofa County: 2 Die, Three In Hospital After Drinking Palm Wine

PHOTO: Bottle of the reportedly deadly palm wine
By Tokpa Tarnue- tarnue82@gmail.com
VOINJAMA, Liberia- Reports from Salayea in northwestern Lofa County say two persons have died and three others are undergoing medical treatment at the Gbalatu clinic in neighbouring Bong County, after drinking palm wine.
Gayfor Johnson and his wife, Nowah Gayflor both adults of Kpoto Villaga in Salayea district were seen on March 1, 2023 lying unconscious on their farm road, according the chief of the village, Gayboubah Yanqoi.
Chief Gayboubah Yanqoi told the police that the two individuals were among six people who reportedly drank the palm wine from a rubber bottle with a root on it.
The chief named the other individuals who are said to have fallen ill from the palm wine as Krobu Davis, Yassah Kpoto and Junior James all of the same village and a man only identified as Zubah, who provided the said wine and he is currently on the run.
Zubah has been in their village carrying on a fish pond project for an organization called Fish Zubah, according to Chief Gayboubah Yanqoi Liberia.
According to police investigation, the six individuals including suspect Zubah himself all drank the same wine.
Police are said to be treating the place where the palm wine was drunk as a crime scene. The police who responded to the alert set up a 15-member coroner jury team to carefully observe and examine the two persons who died, but they concluded that there was no foul play in their death.
Following the report from the coroner jury team, the family of the dead persons through a written communication requested for the bodies from the police for interment.
But some locals in the area are not satisfied with the conclusion of the coroner jury and some civil society and human right actors have since condemned the report.
They want police to launch in depth investigations into the deaths of the two individuals by taking the bottle of wine in question to the lab for testing, which they believe could establish the actual cause of the death of the two individuals.