SHIJIAZHUANG, China, March 24 (UPI) -- State forensic experts deny that negligence was a factor in the deaths of five teenage girls from carbon monoxide poisoning in a Chinese textile factory.
The parents of the girls, who were aged 14 to 17, claim their daughters were still alive when they were placed in coffins after being found amid the fumes of a charcoal burner in their dormitory room last December.
Family members claim they saw vomit on the girls' faces and signs of struggle in the coffins, and that they should have been given medical help, the South China Morning Post reported Thursday.
The girls had been workers at the Lihua Textile Factory near Shijiazhuang city in Hebei province. Three of them were younger than 16, the minimum legal age for factory workers.
Wang Shuhai, the father of one of the girls, said Wednesday the Ministry of Public Security had told the families that the girls died "under normal circumstances."
The five fathers filed a complaint last Friday against the local Labor and Social Security Bureau, the crematorium that handled the bodies and the local hospital. They are seeking a total of 570,000 yuan (about $69,000) in compensation.
