Family died after bag blocked chimney

Carbon monoxide killed a family of three in Christmas week 2011 after a plastic bag blocked a chimney.

A fire officer and coroner yesterday urged householders to install carbon monoxide monitors, hearing how the “silent killer” claimed the lives of a father and his two children as they sat watching television.

Sligo Coroner’s Court was told of the “freak” circumstances when a crisp wrapper was thrown onto a dying coal fire. The fire was not hot enough to melt it, but filled the bag with gas “like a hot air balloon” so that it blew up and became lodged in the chimney, obstructing it, and causing carbon monoxide to be released into the sitting room.