SWAT/MANSEHRA: Four persons, including a woman and her daughter-in-law, suffocated and 10 others fell unconscious due to gas leak on Monday night, rescuers and family members said on Tuesday.

According to Rescue 1122, two friends identified as Israr Khan and Mohammad Usman suffocated as they went to sleep without turning off gas heater in Khwazakhela tehsil of Swat.

A family member said they had to break open the door to the room after failing to get any response from the inmates, and found the two friends lying unconscious. He said they were taken to hospital where doctors declared them dead.

In a similar development, eight persons fell unconscious after gas leaking from a burning heater accumulated in a hotel room they were sleeping in at Fizagat in Mingora.

A Rescue 1122 team shifted them to Saidu Teaching Hospital. Meanwhile, a woman and her daughter-in-law suffocated and two siblings fell unconscious at Mohallah Usmania in Mansehra.

A family member said the inmates had the gas heater on when they went to sleep. He said the two women and two siblings were taken to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital in unconscious condition, where doctors pronounced Naseem Bibi and her daughter-in-law, Iqra Bibi dead.

He said Ahmad Khan and his sister, Sana Bibi, the son and daughter of Naseem Bibi, were referred to Ayub Medical Complex Hospital in Abbottabad in critical condition.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2021