5 suffocate to death in Balochistan

Sudden gas supply cut at night causes poisonous gas to accumulate in rooms, killing people in their asleep.

QUETTA: Five people, including three children, have died in separate incidents of suffocation as temperatures and gas pressure plummeted in Balochistan.

Salman and his wife Gul Bibi turned on the heater on Saturday night in Quetta’s Hazara Town but forgot to switch it off before going to sleep. Poisonous gas filled the room and the couple died of suffocation.

Police shifted their bodies to a state-run hospital where they were handed over to their heirs.

Meanwhile, Bibi Shakira, 13, Hikmatullah, 10, and Zulqaida, 8, were found dead in Kuchlak, on the outskirts of Quetta. They had also forgotten to turn off the heater before going to be. Their bodies were taken to Provincial Sandeman Hospital for medico-legal formalities. Their father Naimatullah was present and received the bodies for burial.