Girls killed in car fire were sedated

2011-08-26 16:02

Potsdam - Two Danish girls who were burned alive in a car in Germany had been sedated beforehand, German authorities said on Friday, after two weeks of doubt over their father's claim that the fire was an accident.

Toxicology results showed the children, 9-year-old Line Sofie and 10-year-old Marlene Marie, had been given sleeping pills, according to the public prosecutor.

Police have said they are certain the girls were alive when the fire broke out in the car in a forest near Berlin.

An application was to be made to a magistrate on Friday for the father to be taken into judicial custody.

The father, himself badly burned, led police to the burned-out car containing the disfigured bodies. He said the fire was accidental. At the time he had been driving home to Denmark with the girls after a holiday in Germany.

A Danish newspaper earlier reported that the girls' parents divorced last year and there was a dispute over visitation rights.

- SAPA