(COLOMBO) – A man and his teenage son died in their sleep after unconsciously inhaling Carbon Monoxide gas emitted from a generator at their residence in central Sri Lanka on Thursday night, police said.
They said the pair had turned on the generator after there was a sudden unannounced power outage in the area.
The incident took place in the central hill town of Hatton situated some 132 kilometres from the commercial capital of Colombo.
According to investigators the pair, along with neighbours had earlier in the day made arrangements in preparation for a rice ‘Dansala’ which is a traditional charity meal provided to the public during the Holy Week of Vesak, which is currently underway.
The victims had later retired for the night and forgot to switch-off the generator situated in the bedroom, according to police.
Their still bodies were found by neighbours the following morning and the police were called in to investigate.
Sudden power outages are common in the island-nation and some 300,000 consumers were forced to experience power failures during the past three days, the country’s Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijsekara conceded on Thursday.
Wijsekara blamed the power failures on the inclement weather currently being experienced throughout the country since the beginning of May.
