Three Florida kids die after trapping themselves in freezer left on lawn - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/three-florida-kids-die-after-accidentally-trapping-themselves-freezer-n958756?icid=recommended Three young children in Florida died after authorities said they accidentally locked themselves inside an unplugged chest freezer. A preliminary investigation revealed that the children — ages 1, 4, and 6 — were playing outside their Live Oak home on Sunday evening when they climbed inside a freezer left in the yard, according to a Facebook post by the Suwannee County Sheriff’s Office. The mother of the 4-year-old told investigators that she was outside watching the children and went in to use the bathroom. When she returned, the children were gone. The mother said she woke up the grandmother of the other two children and they began to search around the house as well as a vacant home next door, the sheriff’s office said. Sheriff Sam St. John told NBC News that the two women, who are friends and live together at the home with the children, spent between 30 to 40 minutes looking for the kids before they checked the freezer. “When they opened the chest freezer, they discovered all three children inside of it, not breathing, and began resuscitative efforts and called 911,” the sheriff’s department wrote on Facebook.

If it was unplugged, how did it kill them in less than an hour, even if they're small children?

Oxygen deprivation most likely.

spent between 30 to 40 minutes looking for the kids before they checked the freezer.

God that must have been such a harrowing sight

Dude, freezers have rubber seals around the lid to prevent the escape of cold air rendering them airtight. It's not hard to believe that 3 people trapped in there ran out of air in that period of time.

I can't imagine being a parent and finding your children dead in a pile like that. Horrible.

Oxygen Deprivation. Freezers seal when closed. Given that they were checking both the house and the vacant home next door, it's not too crazy to think that it took them long enough that it became too late to save the children.

Coulda been hyperthermia? Maybe asphyxiation due to cramped conditions. Still, Jesus Christ...

I think locked is a misused word here. A chest freezer opens like a chest, so young kids trapped inside (and oxygen deprived) probably weren't strong enough to push the lid back open from the inside.

God, why did my head go straight to that G.I.Joe ad dub.

It had an after market "hasp" installed that apparently closed on itself when the kids closed the lid, according to a post on the local PD's facebook page.

Yes and with three of them likely panicking to get out they used up the air faster due to heavy breathing. This story is fucking depressing, the worst part is the mom looked for them all over. If she checked the freezer first the kids would have likely lived. I wouldn't want to live with that guilt.

For all intents and purposes it locked imo. Sure there wasn't an actual padlock on it but it seems obvious that the catch for the lock fell into the closed position and the kids were not strong enough to somehow dislodge it. Plus they were probably jammed in there depending on the size of the freezer and didn't have lots of room to move around. Add on to that that if there were moving around a lot and panicking they would have been using up air much quicker.

I locked myself in a laundry basket probably doing the same thing. What a nightmare.

freezers are sealed shut

Pretty much any modern-ish freezer or refrigerator is designed specifically NOT to lock, or if they CAN lock, they HAVE to have a way of opening them from the inside. This includes any walk-in refrigeration systems. But as said, there was a locking hasp on it, possibly to keep people from stealing whatever was in the freezer, and when they closed the lid, it dropped, and no amount of pushing, kicking, or punching (if there was even room to do so) is going to get that hasp to lift.

God damned horror scene

This is why if you get rid of a fridge or freezer for scrap or garbage you need to bust the doors off those fuckers and ideally fuck the doors up too. Having to deal with a bent-ass door and lob that in the recycling center is better than some kid dying.

You know I read this and felt so fucking sad, but then my mind stopped for a moment and tried to actually imagine it from the point of view of these poor kids IN the freezer... The sheer panic that would have set in as they started getting light headed and weak. I've worked with wildlife my whole life and when I was young, I made a mistake with an animal that was kind of similar to this. I cannot even begin to express how heartbroken and horrible I felt when I found out what had happened, and even 20 years later I think about it and still it makes my heart sink and my gut turn, I feel so awful. And then I think of these parents finding their kids like that. They are going to be forever changed by that, every time they see a freezer or kids climbing in / on things they're just going to die on the inside... I know that feeling. How fucking tragic

I see soda rings that people haven't bothered to cut up all the time. People aren't gunna go the effort because it doesn't directly effect them.

Freezers like that are commonly used to store food at places like event halls where the public will be able to get near them. At private residences they may be placed in an unsecure room like a garage or outdoor room (not sure what they're called - think open-air design, mesh windows, and screen door). If you're the kind of person to have $200 worth of meat in a large freezer, you want it locked.

The worst part that will stick with them is knowing that they searched all the wrong places first. If they'd just opened the freezer minutes sooner, they'd still be alive. The guilt will eat them for the rest of their lives.

PSA: This is the sort of thing my dad is paranoid about. Whenever you toss a or leave on the curb a fridge/dishwasher/washer/dryer of any kind, remove the bloody door. Kids CAN and WILL play in them and have this result. REMOVE YOUR DOORS. As for the family in the article, not sure what is going to happen. Terrible all around.

On top of this businesses may have high grade and expensive stock in said freezers. I can tell you that the ice cream and chocolate in our freezes is worth at least $2500. I'D BE VERY careful to make sure its sealed and locked.

Does it really need a closeable clasp like that though? Wouldnt 2 rings to put a padlock through work just fine?

Freezers like these also tend to have heavy doors, too.

The ones I've seen usually have a key lock, that one looks like the owner drilled that one on himself.

My sister was curious as could be when she was smaller, and when she was 4 she climbed into our basement's freezer (Which is large enough to fit me if empty, even at 6 feet and 145 pounds) and if she wasn't so loud all the time, I don't think I would've noticed. It got quiet, I got suspicious and it took me a couple or so minutes until I looked. It couldn't have been more than 5 minutes but she was already cold and barely able to cry. I'm not normally an emotional person but I was nearly in tears when I pulled her out just thinking about what could've happened. This is not something I'd wish against anyone. How awful.

If it weren't for your actions, she would have died. You saved her life.