Five suffocate to death from 'angithi' smoke in Churu, Bikaner

BIKANER: Five people died in two different incidents of suffocation on Monday after inhaling toxic fumes from coal brazier (angithi) in Bikaner and Churu districts.
A 50-year-old woman, her daughter-in-law and three-year-old granddaughter died in their sleep, apparently due to suffocation, in Churu district's Gorisar village. But a two-month-old boy survived and was rushed in critical condition to the government hospital, said Ratangarh police station SHO Subhash Bijaraniya to TOI.
The deceased, identified as Sona Devi (50), Gayatri (35) and Tejaswini (3), were sleeping in a room with the two-month-old kid and using an 'angithi' to keep themselves warm in severe cold conditions. tnn
Neighbours broke open the window
Two other family members were sleeping in the adjacent room. Neighbours broke open the window when they didn't wake up even after 8am. Police received a call around 8.30am and found all the four in an unconscious state at their house in Prajapaton Ki Dhani. "We rushed to the spot and found the bodies of two women and a girl. We were told that a child had been taken to a nearby community health centre by the neighbours," SHO Bijaraniya said.
In another incident in Bikaner, a couple who slept with a coal brazier in a closed room were found dead around 9am at a woolen factory in Karni Industrial Area of Bikaner. The deceased have been identified as Anil Barman (38) and his wife Purnima Barman (37) from Cooch Behar district of West Bengal.
Police said the husband, a labourer at the factory, was sleeping in the room with his wife after dinner. The cops were informed by the factory staff after the couple failed to come out of their room in the morning. The two were found dead by the police. SHO Mahendra Dutt of Bichwal police station said the duo had slept with a brazier in the room and died due to lack of oxygen. There were no injury marks on the bodies and, prima facie, the deaths seemed to have been caused by suffocation, he said.