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No fewer than five persons have been confirmed dead from methanol poisoning in a local gin in Umunakara community, Ngor-Okpala Local Government Area of Imo State.
Reports said residents who patronised a gin shop in the community on Tuesday, November 14, to Friday, November 17, started having body stiffness and partial blindness which culminated in deaths.
According to PUNCH, the shop owner, Uwadiegu Eze, an indigene of town, fled after he was informed that some of his customers were dying.
The dead victims were identified as: Daniel Nwosu Jnr. (Male, 45); Friday Osuji (Male, 70); Ifeanyi Njoku (Male, 31), Mrs. Adanna Iheanacho (Female, 60) and one Benjamin Okoroafor.
On getting information of the deaths, the Imo State Ministry of Health sent a team headed by the Director of Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Okeji A., to the community.
Upon sighting the ambulance of the state Ministry of Health, many youths, believed to be from Umunakara community and other adjoining villages who reportedly drank the local gin, queued up in their numbers, waiting to be taken to Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Okeji lamented that despite the several episodes of methanol poisoning arising from local gin consumption in various parts of the country, people still patronised distillers who used methanol to boost production of the gin in order to increase their profits.
A former Commissioner for Information and Strategy in the state, Toe Ekechi, who is an indigene of the community, commended the prompt response of the state health officials.
He said security operatives were already on a manhunt for the owner of the gin shop.
Meanwhile, PUNCH Metro also reports that eight other victims were on Saturday rushed to Uchenna Clinic, a private clinic in Owerri.
The Chief Medical Consultant of the clinic, Dr Ezimefula Andrew, told the newspape that one of the eight victims transferred from St Augustine’s Hospital, Ulakwo to the clinic, was already blind, while the others were in other stages of methanol poisoning.