Two children missing for hours were found dead inside a parked car at Anotp Hill in central Mumbai, with the police suspecting that the kids lost their lives due to suffocation, an official said on Thursday.

The car was locked from inside and it appears that the children could not unlock it, the official said.

Muskan Mohabbat Shaikh (5) and Sajid Mohammed Shaikh (7) were playing outside their homes, where the car was parked, on Wednesday afternoon.

When the children did not return home till evening, their parents started a search for them. Subsequently, they also lodged a missing complaint at the Antop Hill police station, the official said.

A few hours later, an onlooker found the children lying unconscious inside the car. The vehicle doors were opened and the kids were rushed to the hospital but doctors declared them dead, the official said.

Prima facie, it seems the kids were suffocated to death as they were locked inside the car, the official said.

Police are examining footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area and probing all possible angles, he said, adding that an accidental death case has been registered for now.

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