6 die in 2 days due to suffocation in Valley, experts sound caution

Death of six persons, including five members of a family, due to suffocation caused by heating devices in the past two days in Kashmir has cast a pall of gloom across the valley with health experts urging people for safe heating practices while politicians demanding the government to provide carbon monoxide detectors to families.

- Ashiq Hussain

SRINAGAR:

Five members of a family, including three minors, died due to suffocation caused by a heating device in Srinagar on Sunday, said officials.

Officials said that Aijaz Ahmad, 37, his wife, 35, and three children—aged 4, 2, and one month—from north Kashmir's Baramulla district, were found dead in their rented accommodation at Pandrethan area of Srinagar. "In a heartbreaking incident, a family of five lost their lives due to suffocation caused by heating equipment (in a closed room)," a government spokesperson said.

Locals said that Aijaz was a cook by profession and was putting up in a rented room in Pandrethan and had covered all the doors and windows with quilts to escape the chilling cold in Kashmir. On Sunday, Kashmir witnessed fresh snowfall.

The bodies, after all legal and medical formalities, were taken to Baramulla where their burial was performed amid sobbing scenes on Monday.