Almost everybody in Ghana have had their fair share of problems that come along with the current incessant load shedding, popularly known as ‘Dumsor’. For others, their perishable foods in their refrigerators go waste whenever there is power cut. Others too have had their electrical gadgets like televisions spoilt. But the unfortunate thing that happened to two lovers because of power cut was none of the above. For them, it resulted in death.
32-year-old Frank Arhin – a second hand footwear dealer – and his 30-year-old fiancée Sandra Boateng were found dead in their single room in Dansoman yesterday, Daily Graphic reports.
According to the report, it is suspected that the two lovers died as a result of been suffocated by the fumes from their generator which was placed in a sofa next to their bed (photo above).
The deceased’s brother, Bismark Kwaku Asiedu, narrating the incident to the newspaper said his brother last Tuesday bought a generator for the purpose of using it as a source of his electricity whenever there is power cut. According to him, his brother left the compound around 12 am and went to bed with his lover. He however decided to take the generator to his single room and power it there because he feared thieves would steal it when he leaves it outside.
Even though he was going to bed and would not use the generator overnight, the reason given by Frank Arhin why he had to power the generator was that the room was hot. Nonetheless, Bismark Asiedu said Frank told him he would switch off the generating set after some time. Unfortunately, it seems the two slept off and forgot to switch it off.
Even though the actual cause of their death is not known, a medical practitioner who spoke to the newspaper explained that a generator produces poisonous gases which can lead to a person’s death when inhaled in an enclosed place over a period of time.
The bodies of the deceased have since been deposited at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital mogue for autopsy.
There are some tragedies that you cannot prevent but these people could have avoided this mistake and saved their lives….How can you put a generator in a single room and sleep? look at how the room is also packed? Seriously? It is unfortunate that as a country like Ghana, citizens still experience black out…but that doesnt mean people should take such decisions…
Why would they put a generator in such a tiny room whilst sleeping? Sometimes you just wonder if human beings (Ghanaians in this case) are really their own worst enemies looking at the current ongoing crisis and the level of crass corruption and mismanagement. Many church going hypocrites will soon come here claiming it was the work of some witches or some unmerciful fairy-tale God’s wrath being unleashed upon them for whatever biblical reasons. Ghana, SMH!!!!!
Well call it ignorance. Most Ghanaians are are oblivious of the harmful effects of modern technology if not used right. This exact same thing happened some years ago in my neighborhood when a bar tender decided to spend the night in the bar since she was too tired to commute home that fateful evening. They use generators to keep the beer etc from going flat due to the power rationing that was going on at the time. Instead of leaving the generator outside they put it in the storage room where the girl spent the night due to fear of thieves. Next morning she was gone. I was in High School (SSS) at the time and I knew straight away that it was carbon mono-oxide poisoning from the generator fumes. This is just common sense and until I said it the elders in the neighborhood were cooking up some cock and bull stories. That was about 8 years ago and it’s happened again. What stops the govt. from putting on a short one minute ad on t.v highlighting such dangers etc related to using generators with our present Electricity issues?
How can you power a generator in a single room…it doesn’t make sense to me. That is so hazardous, of course that will put you in danger…but they didn’t deserve to lose their lives though.