NEWS
'Family may be sleeping in car'
PASIR GUDANG - Initial investigations into the deaths of five members of a family found in a car indicate that they may have slept in the vehicle as the air-conditioning unit in their room at their workshop had broken down.
Seri Alam district police chief Superintendent Roslan Zainuddin said the family had made the vehicle air-conditioning workshop in Taman Bukit Dahlia, Masai, here, as their home by having a makeshift room there.
"The family could have slept in the car with its air-conditioning turned on. However, the engine had run so long that the fuel had all been used up."
He said it was likely that the deaths were by accident and the five were believed to have died due to the lack of oxygen in the car.
It is learnt that the victims, Lim Kah Weng, 32, his wife Tiew Ong Nee, 34, and their children Lim Yah Bin, 11, Lim Sim Loo, 9, and Lim Sim Tian, 4, died within hours after falling asleep in the car with its air-conditioning turned on and engine running.
Roslan said a passer-by had noticed the car parked in the workshop, with the shutters rolled down.
The bodies were found on Wednesday night after neighbours complained of a stench.
Pillows were found at the back and front seats of the car.
Roslan said pathologists sent to the scene had not found any injuries on the bodies.
"The workshop was also not in a mess to suggest a robbery. No valuables were found missing or stolen.
"There were also no notes left to suggest it was a suicide."
However, police are continuing their investigations.
Roslan said Kah Weng's father told police his son had no problems that could have led to the family committing suicide.
"We are trying to determine whether they were facing any financial problems.
"The father was warded at a hospital on Sunday and had been trying to contact his son since then.
"He said the family had moved there from Serdang, Selangor, three months ago to open the business."
A mechanic at a nearby workshop, Rizal Ahmad, 22, said Kah Weng's workshop had been closed for almost a week and he had thought the family was away in Serdang.
"The three children were always playing at my workshop and their parents were quite friendly, too."
