Saminu Idris and Idris Dahiru, two friends, both 25, residents of the Gangare community in Jos North Area of Plateau State lost their lives on Saturday morning from smokes from a locally made charcoal room warmer.

This occurred around 12:30 am after the deceased had prepared charcoal while getting ready to sleep to warm their room due to the low temperature currently experienced in the state.

There were believed to have inhaled toxic smoke from the charcoal and suffocated in the room.

One of the deceased father (Saminu Idris), Idris Aliyu Adam, who confirmed the incident on Sunday at his home said his family received the news with shock.

"What
happened was the will of God. We love them but there is nothing we could do.
That is their destiny.” said Mr. Aliyu Adam. 

So, Adam, called on residents in the state to stop burning charcoal in their sleeping rooms to reduce cold, saying there is charcoal that may be poisonous to people.

Labiru Idris, elder brother to one of the deceased, in whose house the tragedy happened, informed newsmen that when they both came back around 11 pm, they came to him to request for 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 Labiru, when he woke up the next morning he smelt some odour coming out from around the compound.

“I looked at
our kitchen thinking that my wife had ploughed something because electricity
was restored, I discovered that the odour 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 neighbour 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.

However, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), had said on Friday that the temperature in Jos had decreased to 6.9⁰C making the city the coldest in Nigeria.