Seven Perish In Cross River After “Consuming Cucumber”

The deceased, who were children, were picked up unconscious by their grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy Agbor, on the morning of July 2 and rushed to a nearby clinic where they eventually passed on.

A resident of Amana, Mr. Paul Baji, who narrated the incident to our correspondent, said Dorothy had attended a burial ceremony of one of the villagers, Mr. Emma Kichie, where she spent the night.

But her six grandchildren stayed back with their great grandmother who was present at the time they consumed the deadly fruit. It was not however clear who gave the fruit to the deceased children.

“Upon her return from the burial the next morning, Dorothy discovered that 6 of her grandchildren were unconscious; she then raised an alarm for help.

“Her cry attracted relatives and neighbors who came to her assistance and rushed the victims to a nearby clinic. Few minutes after, one of the female children gave up the ghost; two hours later, 2 boys followed.

“As if that was not enough, 4 hours later, another female child died. As I speak with you now one of the victims who was undergoing treatment in the hospital has just died,” Baji said.

Upon hearing about the death of the children, their great grandmother who witnessed the children eating the fruit collapsed and died few minutes after.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in Cross River State, Hafiz Inuwa, has ordered an immediate investigation into the incident to ascertain what caused the sudden death of the seven persons.

The Divisional Police Headquarters in Sankwala, which confirmed the incident noted that a team of police investigators was being dispatched last Friday to Amana in response to the directive of the commissioner of police.

According to a Crime Officer from the division, who pleaded anonymity as he was not authorized to speak, all the seven persons were buried without the knowledge of the police, stating that police investigators may order bodies of the victims to be exhumed for proper autopsy reports.

He said “the signal came from the commissioner of police in Calabar so we have to detail some people to Amana; the Chief is here with me.

“I asked why such an ugly incident happened and he couldn’t inform the police, he said he was away at Gboko where they operated him on one of his eyes.

“Right now we are sending somebody to the village so that he will come and give us a detailed information because Calabar said we should give them the real information; the names and ages of all the people who died,” he said.

The Chief of Amana, Sunday Ayawa, who was invited by the police for briefing on the incident told our correspondent on phone that he was away in Gboko where he had an operation on one of his eyes when the incident occurred.