A 100lb (45kg) python blamed for the strangling deaths of two Canadian boys apparently escaped from its pet store enclosure, slithered through a ventilation system, and fell through a ceiling into the room where the brothers were sleeping, the shop’s owner has said.

A 100lb python blamed for the strangling deaths of two Canadian boys apparently escaped from its pet store enclosure, slithered through a ventilation system and fell through a ceiling into the room where the young brothers were sleeping, the shop’s owner has said.

Two young boys have been killed by a python which escaped from its enclosure in a pet shop in Canada and slithered through a ventilation system into the apartment upstairs, police said today.