Victims sealed doors, windows with foil, left a note for rescuers

A NOTE FOUND AT THE SPOT ASKED RESCUERS TO VENTILATE THE ROOM BEFORE ENTERING AND NOT TO LIGHT A MATCH OR A CANDLE. IT WARNED AGAINST HAZARDOUS GASES IN THE ROOM

- Karn Pratap Singh

NEW DELHI: A day after the bodies of a 55-year-old bedridden woman and her two daughters, aged 30 and 26, were found on a bed inside their two-room ground floor flat near Basant Gaon in south Delhi, police said it found the flat locked from inside with doors and windows sealed with aluminum foil, plastic sheets and clothes, a six-page suicide note and a warning note pasted on one of the walls.

"Too much deadly gas... carbon monoxide inside. It's flammable, ismein aag lag sakti hain (it can catch fire). Please ventilate the room by opening the window and opening the fan. Do not light a match, candle, or anything!! Be careful while removing the curtain because the room is full of hazardous gas. Do not inhale. Open the inside window from outside," the note purportedly written by the occupants of the house read.

The police said that according to a preliminary probe, it seems that the three women suffocated to death as four small coal and wood-burning stoves were found lit inside the bedroom. The knob of a cooking gas cylinder was also found partially open. This, the police said, explains the note, since any attempt to light a match or a candle may have triggered a fire.

Officers associated with the probe said the three victims were exposed to the carbon monoxide from the charcoal Istoves and the LPG from the cylinder - both of which may have caused suffocation. They, however, said they are waiting for the autopsy report to ascertain the cause of death.