Two eight-year-old twins, their 15-year-old brother, and their 70-year-old grandfather died in a tragic case of carbon monoxide poisoning after bike fumes choked them in their sleep. The incident took place in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, and the neighbourhood woke up to the shocker on Sunday.
Police said Murali, who runs a hair salon, got his motorcycle repaired. The mechanic advised him to keep the two-wheeler's engine running overnight.
Murali parked his bike inside his home, its engine running and emitting smoke. He then shut the doors and windows of the room where his father, son and twin daughters slept. Murali and his wife went to sleep on the terrace.
As the toxic smoke filled the shuttered room, the poisonous carbon monoxide was created. The three sleeping children -- twins Chandana (8) and Charitha (8) and their brother Karthik (15) -- and their grandfather Ramachandraiah (70) died in their sleep. Their bodies were found the next morning.
Police have registered a case and shifted the bodies to a government hospital for autopsy.
Carbon monoxide poisoning leads to hundreds of hospitalisations and several deaths in the country every year. A key cause of such tragic deaths is using appliances such as room heaters or gas stoves in closed spaces with poor ventilation.
