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Three children were hospitalized in Karuma Town Council for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning
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By Our Reporter
Three children hospitalized in Karuma Town Council for suspected carbon monoxide poisoning have been discharged after recovering. However, their 12-year-old sister, Mary Laker, tragically passed away just hours after being admitted to Restoration Gateway Hospital. The siblings were found unconscious by their mother, Joyce Alimo, after a neighbor heard them groaning in the night and alerted her. Francis Odong, LC I chairman of Okwece Cell, said a fisherman passing by had raised the alarm, prompting the children's rescue.
Despite being rushed to the hospital by a Good Samaritan, Laker did not survive. Her three siblings—Sarah Oroma (18), Stella Atimango (16), and Innocent Lubangakene (7)—survived and were discharged on Tuesday. “I was with them yesterday, and they are in good health,” Odong confirmed. The children had been sleeping in a small, poorly ventilated room, while their mother slept in a separate room. Alimo, a single mother, explained that after a day of working in the garden, she had asked the children to boil water for her bath. The fire was extinguished, but the children went to sleep, unaware of the lingering danger from the smoldering fire.
Odong noted that the incident was not reported to the police, and Laker’s body was taken to Gulu for burial in Tit Village, Nwoya District. Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs when the gas builds up in enclosed spaces, replacing oxygen in the bloodstream. This type of poisoning is common in households that cook or use fires in poorly ventilated areas, leading to severe damage or death.
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