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Crime Reporter 

THREE men were found dead last Friday in Mt Hampden after they had been burning bricks with charcoal.

The deaths are among the nine recent and apparently accidental deaths under investigation.

The deceased aged 30, 36 and 42 were found between the burning oven and a plastic sheet protecting the oven and it is suspected that they were hiding underneath the plastic shelter from the rains. 

Police are investigating and have sent the bodies to the mortuary for post mortem to ascertain the cause of death.

National police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi appealed to anyone with information that might assist the investigations to contact any police station.

People have died over the years from carbon monoxide poisoning, with the gas generated usually by burning charcoal in a confined space with insufficient oxygen.

Police are also investigating the death of three young girls aged seven, five and one, who died in their sleep while their parents escaped death by a whisker at Jowa Village, in Inyati, after they were suffocated from aluminium phosphide 560TB fumigation tablets that had been sprayed on shelled maize. 

The maize was in a storeroom next to their bedroom. The three died on Christmas Day. Aluminium phosphide 560TB fumigation tablets are used to control pests in stored grain, seed, tobacco and storage premises. It can also be used for the control of porcupines, moles, gerbils and other rodents.

Parents and guardians have been urged to always ensure the safety of their children. This follows three recent sudden death cases involving children in Binga, Harare and Gwanda.

On Tuesday last week at Manjolo in Binga, a one-year-old infant who had followed her mother to the garden, drowned in a well whilst her mother aged 18 was fetching vegetables.

On Wednesday in Dzivaresekwa, Harare an eight-month-old baby drowned in a dish full of water placed beside a bed on which the baby was lying whilst her mother (24) was doing laundry outside.

On the same day, along Georgia-Garanyemba Road, Guyu, an infant was killed in a fatal accident when an animal drawn vehicle ran over the child while her mother was harvesting mopani worms.