Mum’s anguish after twins suffocate inside wooden toy chest in the US

Four-year-old US twins have suffocated inside a wooden toy chest, after falling asleep inside.

Don Starr took his children, Aurora and Kellan, to bed on August 25 but the pair then decided to cuddle up inside their toy box, which they used to store stuffed animals.

During the night, the twins suffocated inside the box.

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They were found by their older brother, who thought they were still sleeping.

In a harrowing social media post, mother Sadie Mayers said the family are having an “extremely hard time trying to make sense of the tragedy”.

“Not many will know the pain of losing two children at the same time, and losing them in a way that makes no sense,” she said.

“I have to believe that something in this universe chose them specifically, maybe to protect them from some future tragedy, or maybe because their souls were too perfect for this world.”

Mayers said she was working on the night of the tragedy, and Starr had put their four children to bed.

But during the night, the twins got out of bed and ended up snuggled together inside the chest.

“They do this a lot, it’s a twin thing I guess … they usually fall asleep in some weird place in their room with toys left everywhere so mum and dad can see proof of their late night playing when we get up in the morning,” she said.

“Friday night, the weird place they decided to snuggle up and go back to sleep was in their cedar toy chest that we use to store all their stuffed animals.”

When Mayers woke on Saturday morning, she panicked when the twins were not in their bed.

A desperate search around the home ensued before their older brother found them unresponsive, hugging each other inside the chest.

“He said: ‘Mummy! I found them! They are so silly just sleeping in the toy box’,” Mayers said.

But the mother immediately knew something wasn’t right.

“I quickly realised it was already too late,” she said.

Mayers warns other parents about the wooden toy chests, which she says can become air tight and soundproof when closed.

“I hope knowing this helps in some way, and I hope if you have a toy box like this that you destroy it immediately!” she said.

A GoFundMe set up by Mayers’ sister Deanna has raised more than $US19,000.

Deanna said Starr worked during the day and her sister worked at night so they did not have to leave their children with a babysitter.

“They both worked full-time jobs, one in the morning and one in the evening so they would never have to leave the children alone with a sitter,” she said.

“I know they were always exhausted but they were still able to be so present and so loving with each of their four children, every single day, no exceptions.”