Autopsy done to investigate toddlers' washing machine death

English>>China Society

Editor's Pick

Autopsy done to investigate toddlers' washing machine death

(Xinhua) 19:46, September 24, 2013

Email|Print|Comments

twitter

facebook

Sina Microblog

Police have conducted an autopsy to determine whether foul play was involved in the death of two toddlers, whose bodies were found in a washing machine in east China's Jiangxi Province.

Results of the autopsy are not yet available, and police are not able to comment on the nature of the case, sources with the public security office in the provincial capital of Nanchang told Xinhua on Tuesday.

Police sources said earlier that the two sisters, aged two and three years old, crawled into a washing machine while playing at home in Qiaoshe Township, Xinjian County, and died of suffocation around noon on Saturday.

But the incident has stirred discussion online, as netizens questioned how a washing machine could hold two toddlers and still be operational.

Police said they have experimented with the Haier washing machine model involved, but results are not available at this time.

The washing machine manufacturer, Haier, issued a statement saying that company experts had arrived at the scene to assist in the investigation.

The two girls, surnamed Tu, were buried later that day. The girls' mother was cooking and their father was listening to music when the tragedy took place. Their one-year-old brother was also at home.

A relative of the Tu family, who claimed she had seen the parents take the bodies out of the machine, told Xinhua that the relationship between the parents and the girls was "very good."

The parents have not eaten any solid food for three days due to their grief over the loss of the girls, said the witness.

The township clinic doctor, who treated the two girls, told Xinhua that there were bruises on their heads and feet and also some wounds over the trunk of their bodies.

"But it's not so serious as rumors that say the bodies are all bloody," said the doctor surnamed Qian.

The Nanchang Public Security Office has set up a special team for the case.