PATNA, Jan. 1 -- Three members of a family died after inhaling toxic smoke from a coal brazier used to keep warm during a cold night in Gaya Ji district on Tuesday, police said. The incident occurred at Kurkihar-Mahadalit Tola under the jurisdiction of Wazirganj police station. The deceased were identified as Meena Devi (60), her three-year-old grandson Sujit Kumar, and five-year-old granddaughter Anshu Kumari. Following the incident, a pall of gloom descended on the village. The district administration has appealed to residents not to use charcoal braziers or heaters in closed rooms, advising people to keep windows open for ventilation. Authorities warned that if smoke accumulates or discomfort is felt, individuals should immediately move outside and ventilate the room. Wazirganj SHO Neeraj Kumar said preliminary investigation suggested that the family had lit a charcoal brazier inside a room to protect themselves from the cold before going to sleep on Tuesday night. "The door and windows were closed, causing smoke to accumulate inside the room, leading to the death of all three due to asphyxiation," he said. Family members said that when the room was opened early on Wednesday, it was filled with smoke and the trio was found unconscious. They were rushed to a local hospital, where doctors declared them dead. The bodies were later sent to Anugrah Narayan Magadh Medical College Hospital for post-mortem examination. In a similar incident on December 26, five members of a family, including three minor children and Amisha Singh, wife of a Uttar Pradesh-based PCS officer, died after inhaling poisonous fumes from a charcoal brazier in Ambika Colony under Bhagwan Bazar police station area of Saran district. The tragedy occurred when eight members of Ram Lakhan Singh's family slept in a closed room after lighting an angithi (wooden furnace), leading to suffocation. On December 28 too, two people, including a man and his grandson, died of suffocation while using a charcoal heater in Triloki Bigha village under Mufassil police station area of Nawada district. Three other family members fell critically ill. When the family failed to open the door for a long time, neighbours broke it open and found everyone unconscious....