From Judex Okoro, Calabar
Tragedy struck residents of Parliamentary community in Calabar Municipality of Cross River State as two members of staff died mysteriously.
The lifeless bodies of the two hotel workers (names withheld) were discovered in a hotel room late last Saturday night.
Investigations by Daily Sun showed that the deceased, Joseph Enagu Onya, 18, from Yala Nkum in lkom and Daniel Asuatang Mathew from lni in Akwa Ibom, were discovered with foam on their mouths, while some traces of blood were also seen on the floor of the room.
The duo were said to have worked in the hotel in the last six months without any issue.
A source close to the hotel revealed that the duo cooked on Saturday and many of them ate the food, including other members of staff, but the next morning their bodies were discovered.
The source further said that they would have suspected generator fumes, but there was light, and so the generator was never turned on all through the night.
Another staff member who was on duty said, “we tried to bring in a doctor to see if they could be revived, but nothing could be done for them.”
But, a family member, who pleaded anonymity, lamented that they were not rushed to the hospital immediately, adding, “after they discovered that they were dead, why didn’t they immediately inform the police?
“Whatever the hotel is trying to hide will be brought to limelight, as we are ready to go the whole nine yards to know what happened to our son; there is no amount of money they can use to cover this up.”
Confirming the incident, the Cross River Police Public Relations Officer, SP Irene Ugbo, assured that the police would do everything possible to get to the root of the matter.
Ugbo said: “Preliminary investigation has been carried out, samples have also been taken, the Commissioner of Police have also ordered that the case be transferred to the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation, while their remains would be taken for post mortem. We will get to the root.
“We are leaving no stone unturned in this matter. We also have the manager of the hotel in custody and we have sealed off the facility as we speak.”