Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 6 (IANS): Unable to repay debts, three members of a family in Kerala committed suicide on Friday by setting themselves afire.

Despite his best efforts, the 48-year-old Rameshan failed to make the payments.

Rameshan had worked in a Middle East country and returned to Kerala on Wednesday.

The three victims -- Rameshan, his 46-year-old wife Sulajakumari and their 23-year-old daughter Reshma -- had locked themselves up in a room in at their house in Kadinamkulam in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram.

The neighbours heard sounds of screaming from the house and tried to break open the door to the room but to no avail.

Rameshan's aged in-laws, who also live in the same house, were unhurt.

His father-in-law said the family took this extreme step due to harassment from those who Rameshan had borrowed money from.

The police is understood to have recovered a suicide note and a case of unnatural death has been registered. A probe in also underway.