AKRE, Kurdistan Region - A mother and four of her children suffocated to death in Akre, Duhok province early Thursday after she tried to warm the room with coals and suddenly fell asleep. Bilmaz, 45, and her children, Rawan, 9, Murad, 11, Khalat, 12 and Saad, 28, were all sleeping in a room in their house in Akre’s Qopki village while other members of the family were sleeping in other rooms. She had put some coals in an empty oil can to warm the room after performing her morning prayer. She suddenly fell asleep and none of them woke up again because the smoke killed them. Uzeyir Khidir, head of the family, is a Peshmerga fighter who was on duty. He had bought gifts for his children and would present them after he returned in two days. “Yesterday evening, they spoke on the phone with me. I said, ‘My son, I have bought you some stuff from Duhok.’ They said, ‘Come back on Friday because we will all be home.’ I never knew that my home would be destroyed,” he told Rudaw on Thursday. Mohammed wanted to wake up his mother and siblings for breakfast, but when he entered the room, he was shocked to see the five dead. “I went in and I noticed that my mother must have tried to cover my siblings with a blanket. She had laid down on a corner and died. I am dying for my poor mother,” he told Rudaw while mourning the loss of his family members. Only those five members of the 15-member family died who were sleeping in this room. Others who were sleeping in other rooms survived The incident dominated Kurdish social media, with many blaming the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for not distributing heating oil. However, Rebaz Surchi, a relative of the family, told Rudaw that they had received heating oil from the government weeks ago. “Fifty to 20 days ago, they received heating oil [from the government]. However, at dawn, when the national power was on, this electric heater turned on as well. She [mother] brought some coal in a can to warm the room - she had done the same practice two to three times in the past. She had wanted to make sure her paralyzed son would not get cold before breakfast time. She brought other children in as well. After that the mother fell asleep and they died eventually," he said.
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