Father and daughter killed by deadly fumes in Santa Maria

PALMA
TRAGEDY struck in Santa Maria yesterday when a 41-year-old father and his nine-year-old daughter were over come by carbon monoxide fumes and died. The 30-year-old mother was last night in a serious, but stable condition in Palma's Son Dureta hospital.

The accident happened just hours after the Balearic government's Emergency Department issued a warning about the use of gas fuelled fires and other heating apparatus after a spate of incidents during last week's cold snap.

The alarm was raised just before 2pm when another member of the family, from Ecuador, dropped by the house. The bodies of the father and daughter were found slumped on the floor of the bedroom and the mother crying in bed.

The Guardia Civil and the Local Police were called and the woman was said to have been in a severe state of shock, as well as suffering from the effects of carbon monoxide inhalation. Parademics battled to revive the two victims on the floor but there was nothing that could have been done to have saved them.