Eight children, the youngest of them only 18 months old, have been
found dead at a suburban home in the northeastern Australian city of Cairns
in a case that the country's Prime Minister has called "an unspeakable
crime."
A woman
who the police believe is the mother of the seven of the children is in a
hospital suffering from serious injuries. Continue...
The
discovery of the bodies added to a traumatic week for Australia after a deadly hostage-taking in
Sydney only days ago.
Police
said they were called to the property in the Manoora area of Cairns on Friday
morning after reports of an injured woman.
"During
an examination of the residence, police located the bodies of the children, all
aged between 18 months and 15 years," the Queensland Police Service said
in a statement.
"They're
only babies," Lisa Thaiday, a relative of the family, told CNN affiliate
Seven Network. She said the horrendous scene had been discovered by a
20-year-old brother of the children.
"He
got off the bus and he found his mother and siblings," she said.
Seven
Network reported that the children were part of the local community of Torres
Strait Islanders, an indigenous people from the region.
'A
tragic, tragic event'
Police so
far have no formal suspects in the case, said Detective Inspector Bruno
Asnicar, but he sought to allay fears among local residents about the deaths.
"There's
no need for the public to be concerned about this other than it's a tragic,
tragic event," he told reporters near the crime scene, adding that the
area is under control. he said police were "looking at anybody who's had
any involvement."
"These
events are extremely distressing for everyone," Asnicar said. "Police
officers aren't immune from that. We're human beings as well."
Australian
media reported that at least some of the victims were believed to have been
stabbed. But Asnicar declined to confirm that, saying police are waiting for
autopsy reports.
The
injured woman, who is believed to be 34 years old, is being treated for her
wounds and is helping police with their investigation, according to the
statement. She's in stable condition and is not under police custody, Asnicar
said.
Police
believe the eighth dead child, who they don't think is one of the woman's
children, is a member of the family, he said.
'Trying
days for our country'
Images
from the scene showed distraught neighbors gathered near the area cordoned off
around the one-story house, where Christmas decorations were still hanging in
the front window.
"It
is so difficult to come to terms with what has happened on a street I have
visited so many times among residents I have so often spoken with," said Gavin King, the local member of parliament.
Cairns is
a remote coastal city of roughly 150,000 residents that's popular with tourists
as a jumping-off point for visiting the Great Barrier Reef.
"The
news out of Cairns is heartbreaking," Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott said in a statement. "All parents would feel a gut-wrenching
sadness at what has happened. This is an unspeakable crime."
Australia
had already been shaken this week by a dramatic siege at a cafe in the heart of
Sydney, in which two of the hostages were killed, as well as the gunman who was
holding them captive.
"These
are trying days for our country," Abbott said. "Tonight, there will
be tears and prayers across our country for these children."
'They
never annoyed us'
The road
where the house is situated has been blocked off and the crime scene locked
down while forensic experts carry out their work, police said.
Specialist
police officers will also be arriving from Brisbane, another city in
Queensland, Asnicar said.
"This
is not a small job. We're not taking this lightly at all," he told
reporters. "We will cover every angle before this is finished."
A
neighbor of the house where the bodies were found said the family who lived
there had always been very quiet. She told CNN affiliate Seven Network that
she'd heard no noise from the house Friday as she sat in her front room --
until the sudden burst of police sirens.
Another
neighbor, Patricia Birch, said she heard some arguments on the property around
10 a.m., but she agreed the family weren't known for causing problems.
"They
never annoyed us," she told The Cairns Post. "They were really
good."
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