PESHAWAR: Three persons of a family died due to suffocation caused by gas leak in a house at Khandarkhel village in the suburbs of Peshawar early on Sunday.

The victims were identified as Asad Shah, his brother Asif Shah and their grandfather Munawar Shah, all residents of Khandarkhel located in the limits of Mathra police station.

Rukhan Shah, father of the deceased children, told local police that his other family members were not present at home at the time of the incident as they had gone to another village to participate in a wedding party of a relative.

Mr Rukhan said that four of his family members, including his aged father, Munnawar Shah, his sister and the two children, were asleep in the same drawing room and all of them had fallen unconscious after inhaling the natural gas.

They were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital where the two children and their grandfather were pronounced dead while the woman, whose name could not be ascertained, is still under treatment.

He said that earlier they tried to talk to his father and the children on phone, but they did not pick the phone despite repeated calls, after which they rushed back to their house and found them unconscious.

He said that gas leaking from the pipe of power generator had filled the room.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2014