Groom, 6 Wedding Guests Fall Ill, Die Hours After Wedding; Bride Hospitalized

A groom and six guests of his wedding guests reportedly fell ill and died just hours after a marriage ceremony in the rural community of Eka Utara in Enugu State, Nigeria, on Saturday, Aug. 27.

The deceased reportedly attended a wedding ceremony at Obollo-Afor in Udenu Local Government Area of Enugu State, Nigeria before they showed serious symptoms. The group had just returned home to continue their revelry when they began feeling ill.

The tragic turn of events came to light after a neighbor, who had planned to greet the new bride, visited the home where the couple and their guests were staying and noticed the group lying helplessly on the residence's floor “unconscious with foamy discharge from their mouths,” the Daily Beast reported.

The neighbor immediately sought help to rush the group to nearby hospitals for emergency treatment. It remains unclear why the crowd fell so violently ill altogether. According to an anonymous source in the community who refused to be identified, the prevailing theories include food poisoning.

The source added that several other people are suspecting that the victims died of carbon dioxide inhaled from a power generator. The generator was brought onto the veranda of the house where the victims stayed while it was raining when they returned from the wedding ceremony, Vanguard reported.

The source added that there is also growing suspicion that the guests died due to the effects of an insecticide, which was reportedly sprayed to rid the room of mosquitoes.

"We are really in a state of confusion now. It is only an autopsy that would determine what killed them,” the source added.

An unnamed doctor who received some of the group members as patients revealed that five of the guests had died while receiving care at their hospital. However, he said that he could not ascertain the total number of casualties because others who were affected by the incident were taken to other hospitals for treatment.

Five other guests, including the bride, were reported to be under treatment at an undisclosed hospital in the community. Meanwhile, authorities are awaiting autopsy results to find the exact cause of deaths and the root of the tragedy.