Four children die after being trapped in freezer in Namibia

Four young children died after becoming trapped inside a disused freezer while playing hide and seek in northeastern Namibia, police said Tuesday.

The children, aged between three and six, climbed into the freezer on Monday and were locked inside, Zambezi regional police commander Andreas Shilelo told AFP.

"There was a hook on the freezer that could only be opened from the outside," Shilelo said. "They were stuck for about an hour and a half and suffocated."

Two of the children died inside the freezer while the other two "were found barely conscious but were declared dead when they arrived at the hospital," the provincial police chief said.

The mother of one of the children made the gruesome discovery when she went looking for her son after he did not respond to her calls.