S Africans gassed from generator watching world cup

CAPE TOWN, June 23 (Reuters) Three South African men have suffocated to death watching a Soccer World Cup match, succumbing to fumes from a petrol generator they used to power a TV, a South African newspaper reported today.

The men were staying in a partly-completed house in Cape Town on Wednesday night to guard it during construction when they died, Die Burger said. The house was still not connected to electricity.

The men hooked up the generator inside the room to run a television set to watch Wednesday's world cup matches but left all doors and windows closed to try to keep warm.

They were discovered by the builders when they arrived for work today.

''We suspect the gas built up and overwhelmed them because there was no ventilation to let in fresh air,'' police spokesman Marius Roux said.

Reuters DH VV1720