Three kids suffocate in old fridge at Atamelang, South Africa Police say three two four-year-olds and a three-year-old died after becoming trapped in an old fridge. Picture: Michael Perini Source: Supplied THREE South African children have been found dead by a grandparent after becoming stuck in an abandoned refrigerator as they played near their home, police say. Three South African children have been found dead by a grandparent after becoming stuck in an abandoned refrigerator as they played near their home, police say. Their bodies were found on Friday at Atamelang, a town in the country's North West province, police spokesman Sergeant Kealeboga Molale said. Two of the victims were four years old and the other was just three. "They go into the refrigerator and it looks like the refrigerator locks itself and they suffocated," Molale said on Saturday. They were playing outside ... and that's how they went into it and died, the three of them. The grandfather of at least one of the children apparently found their bodies after they failed to return home and called the police. An inquiry has been opened into the deaths.