In an unhappy happening, no fewer than six people, including a mother, her three sons and two of their neighbours, on Tuesday, died in Ogaminana area of Okene, Kogi State, after eating amala meal made from cassava flour.
Three of the deceased were said to have died on Monday, while the remaining three died on quick succession at the Okene General Hospital.
The Public Relations Officer of the Adavi Local Government, Mr Abdulhamid Salahudeen,said that the mother had, on Sunday, brought the cassava flour (white amala, popularly called lafun) from her farmland at Ohuepe village, which is about 30-minute drive from Ogaminana.
He said that the woman prepared dinner from the yam flour for herself and other members of the family, while she also gave her neighbours part of the food. It was gathered that the woman and two of her sons were the first to die as they developed severe stomach pain over the night which later resulted in their death.
The neighbours who sensed that the sudden deaths may be due to the cassava flour dinner quickly rushed the remaining three children that ate the food to Okene General Hospital, where they died between Sunday and Tuesday afternoon.
