5 family members die after rice meal

Five members of a family in Umuatuegwu community, Okija, in Ihiala Local Government Area of Anambra State have died after a rice meal.

Albert Ndenemenu, a commercial motorcycle operator, his wife, Nwanne and their three children died in quick succession after taking the meal at the weekend, Daily Trust learnt yesterday.

There had been conflicting reports as to the likely cause of death since the incident happened. While food poisoning was fingered, others linked the calamity to the handiwork of fetish relations of the family.

Daily Trust gathered that the mother Nnwanne, who was the last to die, had prepared rice for the family’s lunch, which all of them ate and shortly after, her husband and her children started vomiting blood.

“When residents of the village rushed into their compound following her alarm, it was discovered that they were already dead. The woman, on seeing the lifeless bodies of her husband and children, collapsed and was taken to Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi  where she too died,” a source said.

Daily Trust further learnt that three distant relations of the diseased had been invited by the police and were being interrogated at the Okija Police Station.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Nkiru Nwode, said investigations had commenced into the incident.