Two dead, another becomes blind after eating ‘poisonous’ fish

Two persons reportedly lost their lives in Ezillo community, Ishielu Local Government Area of Ebonyi State Thursday after eating fresh fish. Another was said to have become blind also after eating the fish.

The victims are said to be labourers who were hired by one Mr. Alieze for his construction work.

A resident of the community, who gave his name as Odoh Onyinyechi, told New Telegraph that the victims were working and decided to observe rest when they went to the near-by stream where they harvested the fish seen as poisonous by the community.

“A man from our community went to the town and brought people to work for him. The people later went to the stream to fetch water and came back with some fish.

“We told them that these fishes are forbidden in our area because we don’t consume them and if you must eat it, you must remove the scales but I don’t think they listened to our advice.

“Before we could know it, two of the labourers died and one of them could not speak anymore. We don’t eat this particular fish species for any reason and we always tell anyone found with it to prepare it properly if you must eat it,” she said.

Another resident of the area, who preferred anonymity, said he saw the victims harvesting the fish in the stream and warned them not to eat it.

“Those people were busy harvesting fish in our stream and I moved closer and saw the fishes. I told them not to eat one of the species which were among the ones they harvested. I told them to ensure they remove the scales before preparing it because the scale is very dangerous,” he said.

The state Police Public Relations officer, DSP Chris Anyanwu was out of town on an official engagement when contacted on phone after a visit to his office and promised to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of the incident.