QUETTA, Feb 23: A newly-married couple and a minor girl died of suffocation, caused by gas heater, in Muslim Itehad Colony on Saturday, police said.

According to sources, Salah Mohammad went to sleep along with his wife and five-year-old niece, Shreen, in his bed room without turning off the gas heater, last night. They died of suffocation caused by constant burning of the heater.

The father of the girl found them dead, when he had to break the door to enter the bedroom, after getting no response from the inmates, on Saturday night.

He informed the police who brought the bodies to civil hospital, where doctors confirmed that the deaths were caused by suffocation.

Reportedly, over two dozen people have lost their lives in the gas-related accidents during this winter season in the city.