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8 Children Found Dead Near Cairns, Australia | |
(35 minutes later) | |
SYDNEY, Australia — The police have arrested a 37-year-old woman following the deaths of eight children in a house in a suburb of Cairns, Australia, on Friday. | |
The woman, 37, who was taken from the house with stab wounds on Friday, was being questioned by the police at Cairns Base Hospital. | |
Officers were called around 11:20 a.m. Friday to a house in the suburb, Manoora, where they found the bodies of the children, ranging in age from about 18 months to 15 years, along with the seriously injured woman. She is believed to be the mother of seven of the eight children. | |
Local news reports said at least some of the children had been stabbed. Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar said from the scene that weapons had been found in the house and that the state police in Queensland were continuing their investigation. | |
A spokesman at the state police headquarters who spoke on the condition of anonymity said it would take days for investigators to determine the cause of the children’s deaths. He said 12 specialist police investigators had been sent to Cairns, in Queensland’s far north, from the state’s capital, Brisbane, to help. | |
Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the news as heartbreaking. “All parents would feel a gut-wrenching sadness at what has happened,” he said in a statement. “These are trying days for our country.” | Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the news as heartbreaking. “All parents would feel a gut-wrenching sadness at what has happened,” he said in a statement. “These are trying days for our country.” |