KATHMANDU — Eight Indian tourists, including four children, have died after they were found unconscious in their room at a hill resort in Nepal on Tuesday, police said.

The eight — two couples and their children — had slept in one room at a hotel in Daman, a popular tourist destination in Makwanpur district about 55 km (34 miles) from Kathmandu.

"They were found unconscious this morning and airlifted to Kathmandu but died during treatment," police spokesman Shailesh Thapa Chettri said.

The families, from the southeastern state of Kerala, used a gas heater in their room to keep warm, a district official said.

"We suspect they died of suffocation, but autopsy reports will confirm the cause," Chettri added.

India is Nepal's biggest source of tourists, making up some 16 percent of visitors to the Himalayan nation. — AFP