Get you up to speed: Colombia mourns siblings who suffocated in freezer during hide-and-seek game

Brother and sister die after being trapped in freezer playing ‘hide-and-seek’ | News World

Saori Guevara Tiller, 8, and her five-year-old brother Darien became trapped in a freezer during ‘hide-and-seek gone wrong’

A boy and girl have died in a game of hide and seek while their parents were out shopping.

Brother and sister Sauri and Darien Tiller, aged eight and five, suffocated when they climbed into a freezer.

The door closed behind them and they were unable to open it.

Their parents returned 20 minutes later and found their bodies trapped inside.

The siblings were taken to hospital in Vista Hermosa, a town in Colombia’s Meta department, but doctors were unable to revive them.

The siblings’ dad, Brayan Guevara Trivino, has insisted the freezer was turned off when they left at around 7pm on Saturday.

The lid of the freezer closed behind Saori Guevara Tiller, 8, and her five-year-old brother Darien, their parents said

Brayan told Colombian daily El Tiempo: ‘We went out to get groceries and to look for a little shirt they needed for a parade when they started school.

‘We went out and it took us about 20 minutes, more or less. The freezer was unplugged.

‘The children climbed in and got inside. They played, the lid fell, it closed on them and they suffocated.’

He said the children had the habit of playing hide-and-seek and one would go looking for the other, and explained how he and his wife found them after starting to search the house.

The youngsters’ mum Karen Tiller Pana said in an agonising tribute on social media alongside photos she posted of her children: ‘Thank you my babies for having given me the greatest joy in these eight years of life.

‘Thank you for having chosen me as your mother. It was the most beautiful experience I could ever have, thank you for everything we shared.

‘Soon we will be together; how short time is and how long the memory lasts.

‘Words fail me. I loved you as much as I could, and only God will know why He took you. Thank you for everything we lived and shared; you will always be in my heart for as long as it endures.’

Their aunt Lindey Almazo Rosado added in her own tribute: ‘From the deepest part of my soul I mourn the passing of my nephew, my beloved little dark-haired boy and my Saori, my beautiful girl, my star weaver.

‘Two little angels who today are in Heaven.

‘They leave us with an immense emptiness and a sadness that hurts in the deepest part of the soul.

‘Brayan and Karen, may God give you great strength, may He embrace you and give you the strength to move forward in the midst of this great pain.

‘My beautiful children will live forever in our hearts. We will never forget them.’

The siblings’ school, Los Centauros, said in a statement: ‘We regret the deaths of Darien and Saori Guevara Tiller.

‘We express our most sincere condolences to their family at such a difficult moment.’

Local mayor Juan Andres Gomez, in a shared statement with Vista Hermosa Town Hall, said: ‘The Municipal Administration deeply regrets the death of two minors that occurred in our municipality, an event that saddens the entire community and fills us with grief.

‘According to preliminary information, the parents had left their residence at night, leaving the children alone.

‘Upon returning and not finding them, they began searching and found them inside a refrigerator without signs of life.

‘They were immediately taken to the municipal hospital, where medical personnel performed resuscitation manoeuvres, unfortunately confirming their death.

‘We extend our most sincere condolences to their families and loved ones during this time of immense sorrow.

‘This tragic event compels us to reflect as a society and to remember that protecting children is not optional; it is a duty. Children do not understand risks and rely on adult care.

‘A moment of negligence can turn into an irreversible tragedy within minutes, which is why we make a firm call to parents and caregivers to maximise supervision and protection measures.

‘Today, it is not enough to lament; today, we must act to ensure this does not happen again.’

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