Shanghai, April 26 (IANS) A Chinese woman died of suffocation in her Shanghai apartment after a television set exploded in a flat below hers.

 
 Cai Shuwen, a student at the Shanghai Normal University, was sleeping in her fourth-floor home in Pudong area when a television set in a second-floor apartment blew up, leading to a fire.
 
 An elderly woman said she was watching television when the screen suddenly went blank. She went to seek help from neighbours without first unplugging the set.
 
 There was a loud explosion and the contents of the woman's apartment were destroyed. However, the elderly woman was safe, Shanghai Daily reported.
 
 But Cai, despite sleeping with her apartment windows open, died after inhaling the smoke.
 
 A mother and her son living on the sixth floor were also at home when the explosion took place. Unable to escape due to thick smoke in the staircase, they locked themselves in the bathroom and covered their mouths and noses with wet towels.