Five children were found dead in an apartment in the western town of Solingen, Germany after their mother allegedly killed them before trying to take her own life.
According to a local newspaper, the children’s grandmother called the police to report that her 27-year-old daughter had killed five of her children and went out with another child.
The German police found the bodies of the children, aged one, two, three, six and eight, while an 11-year-old was found unharmed at the grandmother’s home and is now being taken cared for by relatives.
The mother survived with serious injuries after jumping in front of a train in Duesseldorf, near Solingen in the early afternoon.
She was rescued from between the rails on a regional S-Bahn line, and the railway operator DB were forced to close off the vicinity because an emergency doctor had been needed on the track.
German police spokesperson Stefan Weiand said it was a “tragic situation,” and that the mother was not yet interrogated due to the situation.
“We are assuming a crime was committed. How and why that happened, we cannot say,” said Weiand in an interview.
The sight of the grizzly murder, as well as the state of the apartment traumatized even the dozens of rescuers that responded to the scene.
One rescuer was reported to have tried to resuscitate the children but they arrived too late.
Authorities are now investigating the death of the children, and are yet to release a statement about the details of the case including the details as to how the children died.
Jürgen Hardt, a German parliament member, was aghast upon hearing the news, and said that he had reacted in “horror.”
“I wish the emergency services and the police strength as they deal with the case, which will affect them deeply as well,” said Hardt.