What Could Have Been Done To Save Lives Of Gin Admirers Died Of Poisoning In Rivers State

At least 38 gin admirers in Rivers state have died of poisoning after consuming locally brewed alcohol beverage known as kai-kai. Shocking details of their last hours point out deadly methanol as the most possible cause of their death. Read what could have been done to save their lives.

Photographer managed to capture last breath of one of the victims of gin poisoning in Rivers state.

“I asked him to tell me the truth if he went to that bar to drink, but he denied and said he only went there to charge his phone,” told the press Pauline Apkan, the wife of Joseph Akpan, one of the victims of deadly gin. “Two days after, he woke up shouting he cannot see. Soon, he said his chest is very hot. He started rolling and groaning, then he died in my hands.”

READ ALSO: Rivers State Bans Consumption Of Ogogoro

Joseph Akpan was among those people who have died in terrible pain after a mysterious Yoruba man, reportedly from Ogun state, who is now on the run, gave them locally brewed gin known as Kai Kai at the dog meat restaurant in Woji, though he himself didn’t drink the poisonous alcoholic beverage.

READ ALSO: Ogogoro Producers Say No To FG Ban

Dying victims first blamed their deteriorating health condition on the dog meat, but the restaurant owner, Friday Dickson, who is now in police custody, strongly denies these allegations.

READ ALSO: 22 Die In Rivers After Taking Local Gin 

He says he operated this business for ten years and there were no such cases. Instead, he blames a man called Chikobi who brought the local gin to his restaurant and gave it to the public but who surprisingly didn’t drink the beverage himself.

READ ALSO: TRAGEDY: Dog Meat Kills Five People In Rivers 

Unfortunately, after mass poisoning occured, angry youths burned his restaurant to the ground so there are no samples of gin or meat left to identify the real cause of their deaths.

Front view of burnt dog meat restaurant in Woji.

But the symptoms of dying victims, such as abdominal pain, vomiting and loss of vision, indicate that the gin they consumed contained deadly methanol, also known as methyl alcohol or wood spirits.

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It may sound strange but methanol poisoning can be treated with alcohol. After inducing vomiting to clear the stomach, the victim of the methanol poisoning should be given to drink 40% ethyl alcohol (vodka) in small doses – 50 to 100 ml every three hours, because alcohol is an antidote to methanol – just like fomepizole which is often difficult to get.

READ ALSO: 22 Die In Rivers After Taking Local Gin 

Further treatment may include giving sodium bicarbonate. But in any case the victim should be delivered to the hospital as soon as possible.

30 ml dose of methanol could be potentially fatal, while the average lethal dose of methanole is typically 100 ml. Toxic effects usually take hours to start, so taking effective antidotes can save life.

READ ALSO: 10 Guests Die After Eating Food At A Wedding In Katsina 

Obed Rowland Whyte, the director of the department in the Rivers state centre for disease control, advised the general public to avoid “drinking locally made gin from unidentified sources.”

The Rivers state Ministry of Health confirmed that 38 people in the state have died recently in relation to the consumption of an illicit gin.

Following the mysterious deaths of dozens of people in Bonny Island, Bonny, and Woji in Obio Akpor local government areas, the Rivers state governments had banned the consumption of local gin popularly called ogogoro or kai-kai.

Nevertheless, local gin producers have kicked against the planned ban on consumption of the product by the Federal Government.

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