Three-year-old twins drown in washing machine after mum ‘left them alone for six minutes’

A pair of three-year-old twins have died from drowning inside a washing machine after their mum left them alone in the house for a few minutes.

The toddlers, known only as Nishant and Nakshya, were found inside the kitchen appliance after they went missing at their home in Rohini, Delhi, India, on Saturday.

The boys’ mother, named in local media as Rakhi, had left the twins playing in the house together having earlier filled the washing machine with around 15 litres of water.

She had left the house briefly to buy washing detergent but returned to find the twins missing around six minutes later.

The woman’s husband, Ravinder, rushed home to help his wife search for their sons, before they found them dead in the washing machine, according to the Hindustan Times.

A senior police official said: “Mr Ravinder immediately took the children to a nearby family hospital where doctors declared them dead.

“Shocked father could not believe and took [the children] to Jaipur Golden Hospital where doctors declared them dead.”

Police believe that one of the boys climbed onto a pile of clothes to look inside the washing machine before falling in head first, while his brother followed.

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The mother told police she had left piles of clothes next to the washing machine. Police said the children may have climbed onto the clothes to look inside the top-loading machine and accidentally fallen in.

Deputy commissioner of police MN Tiwari added: “Since both of them fell head on, they were choked. There was no way they could have come out.”

An inquiry is now set to investigate the death of the twins.

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