The cause of death for the two boys who died when an African rock python escaped from a pet-store has been confirmed to be asphyxiation. The brothers, Connor and Noah Barthe, aged six and four, were found dead in a Canadian apartment situated above an exotic pet-store on Monday morning.

The 4m long, 4kg snake escaped its terrarium and found its way through a ventilation duct into the apartment, where the boys where having a sleep-over. It’s reported that the owner of snake did not have a permit to keep the animal, and the police are treating this as a criminal investigation.

Pictures, which were uploaded on Facebook by the boys’ mother mere weeks before their tragic death, show the boys playing with the snake, and cleaning its enclosure.

[Source : MSN, CBC]