A Hong Kong father is believed to have killed himself and his 3-year-old daughter because of gambling debts, police said Friday. ( dpa )
The 33-year-old is believed to have locked himself and the girl in a room at their home with a pan of burning charcoal, they said.
The pair were discovered unconscious by the man's wife when she returned from work. They were taken to hospital where they were certified dead.
Police said initial investigations had revealed the man owed more than 100,000 Hong Kong dollars (12,700 US dollars) from gambling on football games and horse racing.
The case was being classified as a murder and suicide. Post-mortem examinations were expected to be carried out Friday.
It was third such case of a parent killing themselves and their young children in three months in the city of 6.9 million.
About 1,000 people committed suicide in the former British colony in 2007, down from about 1,200 in 2003 in the dark days of the outbreak of SARS, or severe acute respiratory syndrome, which killed 299 people in Hong Kong.