Enclosure asphyxia as a cause of death in 3 Nigerian children trapped at the boot of car-Case reports and review of literature

The paper reviews enclosure asphyxia as a cause of death of three Nigerian children aged three years, fi ve years and seven years respectively, who were found dead and locked in the boot of a Mercedes Benz 200E Sedan car a day after they were declared missing.The fi rst two were siblings of the same parent whose fathers actually owned the car, while the older child was a neighbour kid all of whom were well known to each other as friends and playmates.They had gone missing for a few hours prior to being seen playing together.Search parties were raised and they were never found until the following day when they were found dead in the boot of the car parked a few meters away from the house under a tree.Incidentally the same car was driven round the neighbourhood for 3 hours during the search the previous day with no inkling that they were in the boot of the car.Autopsy was ordered by the coroner to determine the cause of death.