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| Noah and Connor Barth |
(Scroll down for video) Two boys are dead after a snake escaped from a pet shop, according to emergency workers in Canada.
New Brunswick Police said that they are investigating the sudden deaths of two young boys, who were strangled by a python that escaped from a local pet store in the city of Campbellton, New Brunswick.
The snake, which has been identified as an African Rock Python, escaped out of its enclosure at the Reptile Ocean pet store and slid into a vent above the pet store where the children, ages 5 and 7, were sleeping. The two victims had spent the night at a friend's house.
The bodies of the two children were discovered early the next morning, and the police arrived at the scene at approximately 6:30 am.
"The preliminary investigation has led police to believe that the python escaped from its enclosure at the store sometime during the night," police officer Julie Rogers-Marsh said Monday. "It is believed that the two boys were strangled by the snake," she said.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have not released the identities of the two children. However, the children were later identified as Noah and Connor Barth. An autopsy will be conducted Tuesday.
"I’m in shock. I do not know what to think," pet store owner Jean-Claude Savoie said.
Savoie said the two victims are the children of his best friend. He discovered the bodies when he went into the living room after the sleepover.
"This is a tragedy," Campbellton Deputy Mayor Ian Comeau said. "The city is in shock," he also said.