Six members of a family including three children died due to gas suffocation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu city on Tuesday, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.
The tragedy struck the family in the Gulshan Colony of Hangu city where the family went to sleep with their gas heater on. The gas supply was suspended during the night and when it resumed the gas filled the room where the family was sleeping causing their deaths.
The deceased included a man, two women and three children.
The victims had apparently left the gas heater on in their bedroom at night to protect themselves from extreme cold. However, there was gas load shedding and the flame died out. When the gas supply resumed, the gas fumes did not burn and kept on filling in the room putting the inmates in a deathly slumber.
When the family did not wake up till late in the morning, the neighbours grew suspicious and banged on the doors. Receiving no response, the locals decided to break the door. As the neighbours came into the bedroom, they saw all six of the family lying dead in their beds.
On December 20 last, a father and his daughter were found dead in their house in Sakrand, suffocated due to gas leakage. Shani Solangi and his six-year daughter had died due to gas leak from the heater in their room.
The room had also caught fire when the victims were in sleep, police said.
Recently in October a newly-married couple was found dead at their house due to gas suffocation in the Astore district of Gilgit-Baltistan. According to rescue officials, the victims were killed due to a gas leakage in their room. The couple had only got married three days ago.
Media reports frequent incidents of deaths by gas suffocation in Pakistan during freezing temperatures in winter.
Reporter Syed Azmat Ali Shah