8 disabled children suffocated to death by smoke in S China

GUANGZHOU, March 5 (Xinhua)-- A total of eight disabled children were suffocated to death in a welfare house in south China's Guangdong province on Wednesday morning, the local authority said.

The children were found dead by welfare house staff on patrol at 3:44 a.m., an official with the Huizhou municipal government said on Wednesday.

The children, who lived in the house in Huizhou City, were choked to death by the heavy smoke after the mosquito-repellent incense ignited the quilts, according to the welfare house.

The government is searching for the person responsible for the incident.