Five more young boys die trying to keep warm in Guizhou
Home-alone youngsters asphyxiated while burning straw in barn, mirroring the tragedy of a fire in rubbish bin three months ago
Three months after the death of five boys in a rubbish bin in Guizhou province shocked the nation, five more boys have been killed in a similar incident in the same province.
The boys, aged between four and six, were burning straw in a poorly ventilated barn used for curing tobacco, Xinhua reported.
Their parents were away, helping to prepare for a wedding in nearby Chaoyang village in Majiang county. By the time a villager found them on Monday, four were dead. The other died on the way to the hospital.
The boys, aged between four and six, were burning straw in a poorly ventilated barn used for curing tobacco
One boy was a member of the Miao ethnic minority and four came from the Buyi minority.
The provincial government has given each of their families 22,000 yuan (HK$27,370) in condolence money and 100kg of rice.
In November, five boys aged nine to 13 died of carbon monoxide poisoning in Bijie after they climbed into a dumpster and lit a fire to keep warm. They were cousins from three families and had been living on the street for several weeks.
Their parents were either working in other cities or too busy working in the fields to look after them properly.
Their deaths drew nationwide attention to the plight of the mainland's street children, who are often the victims of broken families or the children of migrant workers.