Brothers, 4 and 6, killed by a python who escaped its tank and strangled them as they slept.

 
Brothers Connor (left), 6, and Noah, 4, (right) 
Hundreds of people are attending the funeral service for two brothers who were killed by a python while they slept at a friend's home above an exotic pet store.
Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his 6-year-old brother Connor were eulogized during the service at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Campbellton, New Brunswick.


The family decided that the brothers would be buried together in a single casket.

The young brothers (seen in a photo, right) were buried in a single coffin with hundreds coming out to attend their funeral service conducted by Father Maurice Frenette (pictured)

The boys were killed by an African rock python owned by Jean-Claude Savoie, a pet shop owner who the boys family was visiting

The brothers were killed at a sleepover when the python escaped its tank through the connected ventilation systems

The two boys were found dead Monday morning after a 100-pound African rock python escaped its enclosure in the apartment where they were staying.

Police say the snake slithered through a ventilation system located above its tank and fell through the ceiling into the living room where the boys slept.

Preliminary autopsy results show the boys were asphyxiated by the python.

Connor (left) and Noah (right) were remembered a their funeral service for their love of video games and playing outdoors

Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Connor, 6, and Noah, 4, Barthe at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Campbellton, New Brunswick, Canada

A mourner breaks down at the funeral of the two young Canadian boys who were strangled by an escaped snake in their sleep

Questions still surround the circumstances of the boys' deaths, but before the service the Reverend Maurice Frenette said the funeral was a time to help the family.
'We're not here today to make any judgment or to try to find an answer to the inquiry, but we are here to take a pause and to be with the family,' he said. 'Today we want to basically be there for them and tell them of all the love we will try to share with them during this time of sorrow.'
In front of the altar was a photo of the two boys, their heads leaning against each other with broad smiles on their faces.

Noah (left) and Connor (right) pictured here with their mother were on vacation visiting a family friend's farm when they were unexpectedly killed by an escaped python

The African python is believed to have escaped its tank in an apartment above the pet shop through vents and fell through the ceiling into the boys room

The boys were remembered for their love of video games, playing outdoors and the differences in their personalities.
Connor was loud and Noah was quiet, but they shared a special bond and 'needed to be near each other,' said family friend Melissa Ellis.
'If people all over the world are feeling even a fraction of what we felt over the almost seven years of knowing the boys — inspired, lucky, blessed, hopeful — then our hearts are full,' Ellis said. 'The boys are continuing to change people, help people and heal people's hearts, including ours.'

The two brothers were laid to rest together and are being mourned by their family and entire community at large

Noah, 4, seen here holding a snake (not the snake that killed him) was going to start kindergarten in the fall

The young brothers were killed as they slept in an apartment above Reptile Ocean, an exotic pet store housing snakes and alligators in the province of New Brunswick

Provincial officials have said the African rock python was not permitted in New Brunswick.
On Friday, 23 reptiles that were banned without a permit in New Brunswick were seized from the pet store, while four large American alligators were euthanized.
The store and apartment where the boys died are owned by Jean-Claude Savoie, a family friend of the boys who took them shopping and to a farm before the sleepover on Sunday with his son. Savoie has not returned repeated messages seeking comment.

A line of cars follows the hearse from the funeral for Noah and Connor Barthe

Mandy Trecartin, right, and Andrew Barthe view the casket holding their two sons, Noah and Connor Barthe, at St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church in Campbellton, New Brunswick

During a stop in New Brunswick on Friday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper expressed his condolences to the family of the boys and said the federal government would review what happened to determine whether it should play a role in the regulation of exotic pet shops.
Comeau said Campbellton and other municipalities should await the outcome of the police investigation before changing any regulations.
'We don't want to make any decisions yet,' he said. 'I know it is something that will be on the agendas of many, many municipalities ... looking at what can be done to prevent such a tragedy.'