The Commissioner of Police in Enugu State, Mr Ahmed Ammani, has ordered the state’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to look into the circumstances surrounding the death of six people in an Enugu community.

The commissioner also directed the department to unravel why eight patients were hospitalised under the same strange circumstances in Akutara Village in Adani community of Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area.

The commissioner’s directives are contained in a statement issued by the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP Daniel Ndukwe, on Sunday in Enugu.

Ndukwe said that the directives were given following the receipt of a report alleging the sudden and unnatural deaths and hospitalisation at Akutara Village on Aug. 27.

The police spokesman said that the commissioner had already commiserated with the families and friends of the deceased.

The PPRO noted that the police boss called on the residents of the community to maintain peace and support the police with necessary information in the investigation.

“Preliminary investigation reveals that one of the confirmed deceased victims, Obinna Dike, 31, attended his own traditional marriage ceremony at Obollor-Eke in Udenu Council Area on Aug. 26 with his relatives and other victims of the incident.

“They thereafter went back home and continued with the celebration.

“However, the following morning, none of them came out of the room where they slept.

`This caused the door to be forced open, with all of them in the room found to be unconscious with foamy discharges from their mouths,” the police spokesman said.

He said that they were immediately evacuated to a hospital where six of them were confirmed dead and deposited in the mortuary for autopsy.

Ndukwe noted that eight others had been responding to treatment.