Man poisoned by winter gas heating

A 24-year-old migrant worker became the city's first fatality from heating-related carbon monoxide poisoning this winter on Tuesday.

The food vender passed out and died Tuesday afternoon while asleep with members of his family in rented accommodation in Xicheng district, downtown Beijing.

A police investigation found unburned coal pieces in the 10 sq m house. Officers suggested the man, surnamed Ma, had inhaled a lethal amount of carbon monoxide due to the close proximity of his bed to the stove.