3 children, their parents found dead in Kashmir village

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) : Five members of a family, including two children aged three and five and an infant, were found dead in a rented accommodation in a northern district of Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday.

Faraz Ahmad, a resident of Kralpora village in the Kupwara district, where the unfortunate incident occurred, told Anadolu over the phone that the family was from the Bijnore district of Uttar Pradesh state of India.

He said local residents found the five members unconscious and informed a doctor, who pronounced the couple and their three children, including a newborn infant, dead.

The deaths appeared to be the result of suffocation, said a doctor at a local medical facility who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

But the true cause of death will be determined after the bodies are examined, he added.

Toxic emissions from coal-fired stoves in poorly ventilated rooms have previously resulted in deaths in Kashmir valley, where night temperatures drop to several degrees below zero.

Although daytime temperatures have begun to rise after the 40-day period of extreme cold, nights are still colder in remote areas such as the one where these deaths occurred.