Uttarakhand: Couple light fireplace to beat cold weather, die of suffocation

Uttarakhand: The couple, Madan Mohan Semwal (52) and his wife, Yashoda Devi (48) had come to the village to attend a wedding ceremony, Dwari-Thapla village administrator Rinki Devi said.

Uttarakhand: A couple died due to suffocation after they went to sleep with the fireplace burning in a village of Uttarakhand, said officials on Friday (January 17). The incident occurred on Thursday night in the Dwari-Thapla village of the Bhilangana area. 

Around 11:00 pm, they lit a fireplace due to the cold weather conditions, took it inside their room and fell asleep with the door closed. On Friday morning, their son went to wake them up but no one opened the door, Devi said.

After not getting any response for a while, the locals broke the door open and the couple was found dead on the bed, Devi added. She said that they died due to carbon monoxide gas produced by the smoke of the fireplace.

However, the locals did not inform the police. After talking to the couple's son and daughter, they cremated the bodies at a Ghat. The village administrator added that Semwal was a clerk at the Government Inter College, Saraswatisain.