NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Three people were found dead in a nursery for mushroom cultivation, probably from inhaling carbon dioxide, in Khon Buri district on Sunday morning, police said.
Pol Col Prasit Premkamol, the Khon Buri police chief, said the bodies of Nathapol Akkhisamrong, 27, and a couple -- Boonlua Channok, 49, and his wife Saipin Akkhisamrong, 48 -- were found in the makeshift nursery completely covered with canvas on Sunday morning. The nursery was located by house No. 53 at Moo 13 village in tambon Ban Mai, Khon Buri district.
The police chief, accompanied by other officers, rescuers and a doctor, went to the scene to investigate.
Thitya Kulpathumnon, 41, Nathapol's aunt, said Nathapol was a worker at a sugarmill in the district who came to the house to learn mushroom-growing techniques from Boonlua and Saipin, his relatives.
Nicha Channok, 18, a daughter of Boonlua and Saipin, told police that at about 10pm on Saturday she looked out from the house and noticed the light in the mushroom nursery was still on. She thought her father and mother were in there, and went back to sleep.
At about 8am on Sunday, wondering why her parents had not returned throughout the night, Ms Nicha went to take a look inside the mushroom nursery and found the three lying dead together at the same spot.
Mrs Thitya believed it was Nathapol who went inside the nursery first and lost consciousness. When Boonlua and Saipin went in there to look for him, they too fell unconscious.
Pol Col Prasit said the three were suspected to have died from inhaling carbon dioxide.
As part of the mushroom cultivation process, the nursery was filled with carbon dioxide for three days and completely covered with canvas to activate mushroom growth. After the three days the canvas would be lifted, allowing the carbon dioxide to disperse. The three might have entered the nursery during the process, leading to the sudden unexpected deaths, he said.
A doctor taking part in the investigation also believed they died of a shortage of oxygen.
The bodies would be sent to the hospital for an autopsy to establish the actual cause of the deaths, Pol Col Prasit said.