Three children have died after getting trapped in an unplugged freezer, police in the US have said.

Suwannee County Sheriff's Office in Florida said they received a call from a house and found the children not breathing.

Family members were performing CPR on the children when police and emergency staff arrived on Monday.

The three children - aged one, four and six - were transported to a nearby hospital, but later died.

Investigators have conducted interviews with all of the adults at the home.

A preliminary investigation has revealed the children were playing outside in the garden when, for unknown reasons, they climbed inside of a chest freezer.

It had recently been brought to the house, but was not yet plugged in or brought inside.

One of the women inside of the house went to use the bathroom.

When she returned, she could not find the children so she woke up the other woman who was at home, who was preparing to work the night shift.

They searched the house and an adjacent vacant property for the children.

When they opened the chest freezer, they discovered the children inside.

It has since been discovered that a hasp - a slotted hinged metal plate - had been installed on the lid of the freezer.

Polie believe that when the children entered the freezer and the lid closed, the hasp fell shut, trapping them inside.

Florida's Department of Children and Families has also been notified.

The investigation is ongoing, but police have said foul play is not suspected.