Police dig out toddlers’ bodies for autopsy

By Li Qian | September 25, 2013, Wednesday |

Print Edition

Police have conducted an autopsy to determine the death of two toddlers who reportedly died in a washing machine in east China’s Jiangxi Province.

The bodies, which were buried soon after their death on Saturday, were dug out yesterday morning after the bereaved family agreed to it, police said.

The autopsy results were not yet out, and police did not want to comment on the case, sources with the public security office in the provincial capital of Nanchang told Xinhua news agency yesterday.

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

The family suggested that the children could have climbed onto a chair and got into the washing machine, and accidentally pressed the start button.

The nature of deaths sparked wide speculation online, with many disbelieving the washing machine story to others suggesting it could be a case of homicide.

Some netizens argued that it was impossible for the two girls to squeeze into the narrow space of the washing machine, while others simply said that an overloaded machine would not work.

The girl’s uncle blamed the machine for the tragedy.

Nanchang police said yesterday that the family had approached the police in Qiaoshe Town in the wee hours of Sunday, seeking advice on compensation for the twin tragedy they blamed on the washing machine.

Police confirmed that the washing machine malfunctioned, saying it would start automatically when the top cover was puled down, jxnews.com.cn reported.

Other tests revealed that the machine performed even when it was loaded with 30 kilograms of rice, Xinhua reported.

Police however did not say if the malfunctioning washing machine was the cause of the death of the two girls.

The washing machine manufacturer, Haier, issued a statement saying that company experts were helping with the investigation.

The family refuted unsubstantiated allegations online that they killed the two girls to save money for their one-year-old son. “They are our babies. How can it be a murder? We have a clear conscience,” jxnews.com.cn quoted one of the family members as saying.

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

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