Nine die in car poisoning

VIETNAMESE police say nine friends died during a lunar New Year party after they started a car parked inside a house to play music following an electricity outage.

Police in Hai Phong said yesterday that seven men and two women, all in their 20s, died of apparent carbon monoxide poisoning early on Sunday.

A police officer says the car was started after the power went out.

Its headlights and stereo were turned on inside the 215-square-foot house, which had all windows and doors closed.

Pham Van Thuc, 27, owned the house, and he and his fiancee were among the dead.