Gas leak kills woman and three children in Istanbul

A woman and her three children have died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a gas leak at their flat in Istanbul.

The incident took place at night on Jan. 3 when the mother, 36-year-old Hediye Üzümcü, put her three kids to bed near the natural gas heater at home.

The father, Salih Üzümcü, was outside at the time of the accident but returned home earlier than planned after no one at home answered his phone calls. 

Hediye Üzümcü and her three children aged between nine and four, Baran, Rojhad and Zeynep, had fainted by the time Salih Üzümcü arrived at the apartment. 

All four were rushed to the Gaziosmanpa?a Taksim Training and Research Hospital, where they were declared dead. 

Carbon monoxide and natural gas were detected during a search by crime scene investigation teams and the Istanbul Gas Distribution Industry and Trade Incorporated Company (?GDA?).

A faulty gas heater was suspected as the cause of the leak, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported. 

Meanwhile, three other people were reportedly killed by carbon monoxide poisoning in the Aksu district of Turkey's southern Antalya province. 

Muhammed and Hamide Y?lmaz, 62-year-old couple, and their son, Sungur Y?lmaz, tried to heat up their apartment with coal, which is presumed to be the cause of their poisoning, Do?an News Agency reported.

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