Four children from the same family in a village in Qiaojia county, Yunnan province, died of suspected carbon monoxide poisoning on Sunday, according to thepaper.cn.

The children, all surnamed Chen, were living on their own as their parents were working elsewhere.

As the temperature was low that day, they shut the doors and windows and tried to warm up by lighting a fire in the enclosed house. The news report cited a written proposal by a local school that asked students to make donations for the family.

Two of them were in the third grade of the Qingshan Primary School, while another was in a preschool class of the same school. The identity of the fourth child was not revealed.

Thepaper.cn said an employee of Qiaojia county's education bureau confirmed the incident on Thursday. The county's publicity department has not yet replied to China Daily's request for comment on Thursday.

Zhu Fangjie contributed to this story.