Lakhimpur Kheri/Amroha: In two separate incidents, seven children were suffocated to death in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday due to a coal fire lit in their home.
In Lakhimpur Kheri district, siblings aged 8 and 7 were asphyxiated, while their parents were rendered unconscious due to the smoke from the coal fire lit to save them from the biting cold.
Deputy SP, Gola, Pravin Yadav, said that in Lakhimpur Kheri, the children were reported to have died from suffocation caused by coal-fire smoke in the room. He added their parents -- Ramesh and Renu Vishwakarma -- were found unconscious and they have been rushed to the district hospital, where their condition was reported to be out of danger.
In a similar incident in Amroha district, five children of a family, sleeping in their house died due to the smoke from the fire. Two others in critical situation have been rushed to a hospital.
According to reports, the family had lit a coal heater inside the house which possibly caused the children to suffocate. "Prima facie the cause of death could be due to lack of oxygen because these people had burnt a coal brazier in their room," said a police official.
The neighbours got suspicious when the family did not open the door on Tuesday. They forcefully entered the home after breaking the door and found five children dead.
The house belonged to Raheezuddin, whose three children and two children of his relatives have died in the accident. The condition of his wife and brother is said to be critical.
