Two friends die of Charcoal Smoke while keeping warm in Jos

Two friends, Saminu Idris and Idris Dahiru, both 25, have reportedly lost their lives. They died on Saturday morning due to smoke from a locally made charcoal room warmer.

They had reportedly burnt charcoal in preparation to go to bed warm because of the low temperature that the state is experiencing since Friday. They were believed to have inhaled toxic smoke from the burning charcoal and suffocated in the room.

The elder brother to the deceased, Labiru Idris, also spoke to newsmen saying that when the duo came back home around 11 pm, they knocked at his door to demand a little charcoal to set up the warmer.

“They came back Friday night at about 11:pm, it was too cold and my brother knocked at my door. My wife opened and he collected Kasco in which they lit up the charcoal to warm the room as they went to sleep,” he said.

According to him, when he woke up the following morning he smelt some odor oozing out from around the compound.

“I looked at our kitchen thinking that my wife had plowed something because electricity was restored, I discovered that the odor was not from there. I slid the window open and smoke came out. I called my brother’s name twice and he did not answer, neither did his friend. I then called my neighbor with whom we forced the door of the room open, but could not enter due to the intensity of the smoke. Later, when we gained access to the room, we found them dead. My thinking or assumption is that somehow, they got suffocated by the charcoal and probably one of them had attempted opening the door, but on the process pushed the warmer, which lit a fire in the room,” Mr. Idris said.