6 die of suffocation in India after sleeping inside container with lit oven

NEW DELHI, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Six men died while in sleep apparently due to suffocation inside a huge container in Indian capital city of New Delhi, police said Wednesday.

"The men working with a caterer slept in a huge container, which also had a coal oven lit inside it," a police official said. The deaths were reported at city's cantonment area.

Police said the men had come to the cantonment area to prepare food at a wedding function.

"On Monday night after finishing the work, the workers went to sleep in the container in which they had ferried the utensils," the official said.

"On Tuesday when their supervisor tried to wake them up, he received no response, following which, he informed police."

Though all the six were immediately removed to Deen Dayal Upadhyay hospital, doctors there declared four of them brought dead. However, the remaining two who were unconscious succumbed later on Tuesday evening inside hospital, police said.

The deceased have been identified as residents from neighboring Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur district.

With the onset of winter, the people in northern Indian states use different means to keep themselves warm, which at times prove hazardous. Enditem