Summary:
- Three young men were found dead inside a locked store in on Camp Johnson Road where they had slept overnight after preparing the walls to paint.
- Doctors say the circumstances strongly point to poisoning from poorly ventilated rooms, especially where generators or fresh paint may be present.
- Police say an investigation is ongoing. With a lack of knowledge of the dangers of air pollutants, family and the community are reaching for superstitious traditional beliefs that the men were murdered.
By Tetee Gebro, New Narratives health correspondent
SWAKAMORE, Monrovia – Here in this community on the outskirts of the capital, silence has replaced laughter. On Friday morning, three young men from the community, who had been preparing to paint a store, were found dead after sleeping inside the enclosed space.
The store, in Camp Johnson Road community, about 30 minutes’ drive away, was reportedly locked from the outside. A trader who keeps his goods in the store opened it Friday morning and found the bodies. Security guards were nearby, but no one heard a struggle.
Police have yet to release the results of an investigation, but experts say the circumstances strongly suggest the men may have fallen victim to suffocation from fumes either from a generator or from paint or chemicals that the men might have used.
A lack of answers from police has combined with the lack of awareness of the dangers of indoor air pollution to leave the family and community here to look at traditional superstitious beliefs for answers.
Comfort Carter, mother of 30-year-old Martin Cumming, one of the three men, has accused the woman who employed them– with no evidence – of sacrificing their lives in a traditional ritual in order to bring success to the restaurant.
“How can three strong men just lie down and die?” she asked. “I believe they were harmed.”
The woman who owned the restaurant could not be located but medical experts said it was very possible that the men died from emissions from a generator that some said had been left in the room or from the paint, putty or sanding that they were doing to prepare the space.
“Generator fumes contain carbon monoxide, which is extremely dangerous,” said Dr. Philip Z. Ireland, a medical doctor. “It is a gas you cannot see or smell, and people often don’t know they are being poisoned.”
Dr. Ireland said that carbon monoxide enters the blood and blocks oxygen from reaching vital organs like the brain and heart.
“When carbon monoxide builds up overnight, especially while people are sleeping, victims may never wake up,” he said. “The body slowly shuts down because it is being starved of oxygen.”
Dr. Ireland said fresh paints and other chemicals used in the painting process can also release fumes that can kill quickly when there is no ventilation.
“Paint and solvents release chemical vapors that can make people dizzy or sleepy,” he said. “When combined with poor ventilation, these fumes can worsen breathing problems and make it harder for a person to sense danger or wake up.”
Liberia has no official national data on deaths from generator or chemical fumes, but police and media reports show that fatal incidents linked to poor ventilation have occurred and are likely underreported. Experts said the lack of awareness of the dangers is putting many people at risk.
Cummings was a skilled construction worker, according to his mother. He trained younger men and treated them like family. He had taken the two young men – whose names were not available – under his care to train them.
Carter said the work took the three men to the large store on Camp Johnson Road. The owner, a woman said to have returned from the United States, wanted the space turned into a restaurant before the New Year. She pushed the young men to work quickly.
For days, they came home late, she said. Eventually, to save transport money and meet deadlines, they began sleeping inside the store. On Friday morning, a neighbor who encouraged them to take the contract ran to Carter’s house to tell her the boys were in trouble. When she arrived at the store, she discovered her son and the other two men were dead.
Carter said she has not seen the store owner since the incident. No one has come to her house to explain or offer support.
Dr. Ireland warned that generators should never be used indoors or near doors and windows.
“No one should sleep in a room where a generator is running, or where fumes can enter,” he said. “Freshly painted rooms should also be well ventilated for hours or days before anyone sleeps inside.”
Back in Swakamore, the families are still waiting for answers. Comfort said she cannot afford an autopsy and just wants her son laid to rest.
“I just want my son’s body,” she said. “Let me bury him so I can sleep.”
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives with funds from the Swedish Embassy. The funder had no say in the story’s content.
The post Liberia: Experts Warn of Deadly Indoor Pollutants After Three Men Die While Sleeping in Enclosed Room appeared first on FrontPageAfrica.
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