Two 8-year-olds suffocate to death inside a freezer

A box-type deep freezer belonging to a petty foodstuffs seller turned into a death trap for the man’s eight year-old-boy and a neighbour’s son.

The two eight-year-olds, who died of suffocation in the empty freezer-box, were identified as Hrishikesh Jaimalhar Lakhe and Shahrukh Abdul Khan.

The incident happened on Friday in the small town of Jejuri, about 40km from Pune. 

A distraught Jaimalhar, father of Hrishikesh, told reporters that the children were seen playing in the open in the afternoon after which they suddenly vanished. The worried parents began a search at around 5pm but could not trace the boys. It was at around 11pm on Friday that their bodies were discovered when the cover of the freezer was opened accidentally by someone.

The freezer had been brought to the shop just 15 days ago to serve chilled cold drinks to pilgrims during the heavy rush to the Khandoba temple on the occasion of Chaitra Poornima. With the rush having subsided, Jaimalhar had disconnected the freezer and kept it in the courtyard of his eatery.

Jaimalhar told DNA that both the boys would play hide-and-seek in the courtyard and would use the empty freezer for hiding. On Friday, the cover of the freezer locked automatically and could not be opened by the boys from inside. They died of suffocation. Jaimalhar said it had never occurred to him such an accident involving the freezer could happen.