Four children die in flour vat

ROMANIAN authorities yesterday said four children apparently died from asphyxiation after playing in a vat of flour.

A police statement from the Suceava region in the county's north said that the mother of the children, identified as Angela R, left the three-to-eight year olds at home in the village of Ghemenea to go shopping on Monday with an older child.

Police said the youngsters were in the flour vat. They entered the vat and the lid shut. The mother found the bodies on her return. Post-mortem examinations will be carried out.