A MAN and his mother have suffocated after trying to fish a mobile phone out of an open pit toilet and falling in.

The South China Morning Post reports that an unnamed woman in Xinxiang City, China, dropped her phone, worth about $300, into the open pit toilet.

Her husband tried to find it but was overcome by the stench, lost consciousness and fell in. His mother then dove in after her son but she also fainted.

Neighbours were called for help after the owner of the phone then tried to save her husband and mother-in-law but also lost consciousness.

A total of six people had to be pulled out of the toilet. The man and his mother both had pulses when they were rescued but died as they waited more than an hour for medical assistance to arrive.

“Two lives have gone in five minutes and my cousin’s wife is still in coma, leaving a partially-paralysed old man and a one-year-old son at home.” the husband’s uncle said, according to Shanghaist. “What are we supposed to do?”

Originally published as Two die in toilet looking for phone