A nursing mother, identified as Tawa Oladejo, and her baby have died after reportedly inhaling a cloud of smoke from a generating set, Peoples Gazette learnt on Sunday.

The deceased who is a staff of Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owo, also lost her five-month-old baby to the tragedy. 

Her husband, Hakeem Oladejo, who is also an employee at the hospital, is in a state of coma at the facility where he’s receiving medical attention. 

The tragic incident which happened at the weekend in the Owo area of the state has also set tongues wagging most especially in the neighbourhood. 

Neighbours told The Gazette that the family last week bought a new generating set and powered it on Friday overnight, thereby leading to the unfortunate incident. 

One of the neighbours, Titi Opeoluwa, said other residents got wind of the double tragedy when a sister of the deceased came to check on the family. 

“We got to know that she had earlier called her elder sister a day before the tragic incident with the hope to see her at work. 

“But when she didn’t report to work the following day with her husband, her sister became too worried and decided to check on her in the house,” she said. 

According to her, “When her sister arrived at their apartment with some other co-workers, the door was locked and they had to force it open before they got in. 

“Sadly, they met both couples lying unconsciously on the bed while the baby had already given up the ghost and it was just too horrific.

“Before they could rush them to the hospital. The woman died while the husband was still managing to breathe and was attended to.”

The incident was then reported by the grieving sister of the deceased to the Divisional Police Station in Owo while the corpses were evacuated. 

Confirming the incident to the Gazette, the Police spokesperson in Ondo, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, said the police have begun an investigation into the tragic incident. 

Mrs Odunlami-Omisanya, however, disagreed over the actual cause of the death of the woman and her baby. 

“It’s our investigation that will reveal the actual cause of their deaths but I can confirm to you that we met an empty cartoon of snipers in the room when we got there. 

“But we can’t ascertain as I speak with you until we carry out an autopsy and by then we can now reveal what was what caused their death,” she further told our The Gazette reporter in a chat.