Couple Suffocates To Death After Falling Asleep By Fireplace In Uttarakhand’s New Tehri

The couple had lit a fireplace in their room in the Dwari-Thapla village where they had come to attend a wedding, they fell asleep by the fire and died of suffocation.

The next morning their son went to wake them up but no one opened the door.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

A couple died of suffocation after they fell asleep near a fireplace in New Tehri, Uttarakhand on Thursday night. The incident occurred in the Dwari-Thapla village of the Bhilangana area.

The couple has come to the village to attend a wedding, Dwari-Thapla village administrator Rinki Devi told PTI. The deceased have been identified as Madan Mohan Semwal (52) and his wife, Yashoda Devi (48).

Due to the cold weather, they lit a fireplace around 11 pm, took it inside their room and fell asleep with the door closed. The next morning, on Friday, their son went to wake them up but no one opened the door.

As per the PTI report, after not getting any response for a while, the locals broke the door open and the couple was found dead on the bed. The village administrator said that they died due to carbon monoxide gas produced by the smoke of the fireplace.

However, the locals did not inform the police. As per PTI, after talking to the couple's son and daughter, they cremated the bodies at a Ghat.

In a similar incident earlier this month, five members of a family were killed due to suffocation in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district. As per IANS, five members of a family including a couple and their 3 children died of suffocation in the Pandrathan area of Srinagar district.

The family originally from the Baramulla district, lived in a rented accommodation in the Pandrathan area. They fell unconscious due to suffocation and were shifted to the hospital where doctors said they were dead on arrival.

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah has expressed shock at the tragedy. He urged people to exercise utmost caution while using heating gadgets during the harsh winter months.

He emphasised the importance of adhering to government-issued advisories on the safe use of heating equipment to prevent such tragic incidents. In extreme winter cold, people sometimes unmindfully use LPG heaters in their rooms.

These gas heaters produce carbon monoxide and in a room completely closed without any fresh air passing through, such appliances prove fatal.