India, Jan. 11 -- In the biting winter cold across North India, space heaters have emerged as "silent killers", with the latest cases being reported from Delhi, Punjab, and Bihar, besides a number of deaths over the past month from Jammu and Kashmir, among other places.

In Punjab's Tarn Taran, a young couple and their month-old infant died of asphyxiation due to fumes after sleeping with a brazier in a room with all doors and windows closed, police said on Sunday, January 11.

Coal-based 'desi' heaters are not the only ones posing danger, though. People use various heating gadgets to brave the harsh winter, including electric ones, but this has led to deaths due to suffocation, carbon monoxide poisoning, and heater-related fires in a ser...