Indian man, Filipino woman die after ‘breathing coal smoke’

Two Asians have been found dead in a home in Awali, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. 

According to sources at Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) where the dead body is kept in mortuary, the deceased are from India and the Philippines.

Indian Mahmood Yusuf Muttam aged 47 and a Filipino national aged 39 whose identity is not yet known, died after inhaling smoke from a heating coal in Awali home.

Mahmood Yusuf was working as a driver while the Filipino woman was employed as a housemaid.

Interior Ministry tweeted that “the initial details indicated suffocation was the reason behind their death after inhaling smoke from the coal they used to keep warm”.

They also said relevant procedures are being taken. Social worker Shafi Parakatta told Tribune that Mahmood Yusuf’s body will be flown to his hometown in Kasargod district once the paper work is completed.

Philippine Ambassador Alfonso A Ver who confirmed the news said the embassy is trying to contact the deceased Filipino woman’s family back home.

Last week a family of five Keralites who lived in Dubai were among the eight people who died after they fell unconscious probably due to a gas leak from a heater in their room at a mountainous resort in Nepal.