Hyderabad: On December 19, the Hyderabad police said that a mother and her son died of suffocation due to the smoke from a charcoal fire they had lit at home to keep themselves warm. The incident occurred at a house in affluent Jubilee Hills, where the woman was working as a housemaid.

The deceased have been identified as Bucchi Veni (37), and her son Padma Raju (20) whose corpse was recovered from the servant room. The police suspect that they died from suffocation while sleeping.

They had lit the charcoal fire and closed the door and windows to protect themselves from the chilly weather. The smoke had filled the room, leading to their deaths.

Veni and her son hailed from East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana have been experiencing freezing weather for the last two days with a maximum temperature falling 8 to 10 degree Celsius below normal.

On December 18, the residents of Hyderabad woke up shivering as the temperature across the city saw a drop due to Cyclone Phethai that has hit Andhra Pradesh. According to the reports from the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), Medak in Telangana witnessed the lowest temperature in the state at 13 degree Celsius on December 17.