Couple dies as bedroom becomes gas chamber
A couple died of asphyxia on Sunday at a village in Abbottabad.
The deceased had left the gas heater on in a completely closed room, the flame died when the gas pressure died and when the supply resumed the room got filled with toxic fumes putting the husband and wife to a deathly slumber.
Nazir Ahmed and his wife Saydan Bibi suffocated to death at Kakul Tangola village of Abbottabad when they left the gas heater on and went to sleep. The gas supply companies have repeatedly warned people to shut down heaters and stoves before going to sleep.
At around midnight owing to low gas pressure or leakage gas heater went off and the room was filled with gas and both suffocated to death.
In the morning, when they did not open the room, the other family members got alarmed and started banging the doors and then broke in, only to find out that they had died in sleep.
The distraught family members informed the police who shifted the bodies to District Headquarters Hospital for legal formalities. Later the bodies were handed over to the heirs for burial. Funeral prayer of both was offered at their native village Kakul Tangola.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 28th, 2020.