Visakhapatnam, May 18 (IANS) In a heart-wrenching tragedy, four children suffocated to death inside a locked car in Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayanagaram district on Sunday.

The tragedy struck Dwarapudi village under Vijayanagaram Cantonment.

According to police, four children, all aged below 10 years, entered a parked car while playing. The car doors were locked, trapping them inside.

The incident came to light after the parents of the children launched a frantic search for them after they were not seen since morning. Eventually, their bodies were found in a car parked near the local Mahila Mandali office.

Uday, 8, Charumati, 8, Charishma, 6, and Manasvi, 6, had gone out to play on Sunday morning. Charumati and Charishma were sisters, while the two others were their friends. When they did not return home for a long time, their parents began searching for them.

As the doors of the car parked in the area were not locked, the children opened them and sat in the vehicle. The doors then got accidentally locked, trapping them inside. All four died of suffocation.

The death of four children plunged the village into a gloom.

This is the second such incident in Telugu states in the last month. In April, two girls died of suffocation after getting trapped in a locked car in Telangana’s Ranga Reddy district.

The incident had occurred in Damaragidda village in Chevella mandal. Two cousins, aged four and five, who had come to attend a relative’s wedding, entered a parked car while playing outside the house. The car doors accidentally locked, trapping the children inside for a prolonged period in the rising heat.

Family members began searching for the girls after they had been missing for a long time. They were eventually found unconscious in the vehicle and rushed to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared them dead.

Meanwhile, in another tragedy in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, three children drowned in a pit filled with rainwater on Sunday.

The incident occurred in Devarajapuram of Kuppam mandal. The deceased were identified as Shalini, 5, Ashwin, 6, and Gautami, 8.

–IANS

ms/vd