8 Kids Found Dead in Australian Home

Another tragedy in Australia: Eight children were found stabbed to death at a home in a Cairns suburb today, police say. The children were between 18 months and 15 years in age, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Seven of them are believed to have been siblings, and their mother was one of two injured adults found at the home. She is in stable condition in the hospital and police say she is assisting them with their inquiries. "As it stands at the moment, there's no need for the public to be concerned about this other than that it's a tragic, tragic event," a police spokesman told reporters. "The situation is well controlled at the moment."

"We don't have any persons that are formally suspects at the moment," another police spokesman tells the Brisbane Times. The horrific scene was reportedly found by another sibling, a 20-year-old man. The family has roots in the nearby Torres Strait Islands, where the regional leader says he's a cousin of the woman in the hospital. Other members of the large, well-known extended family have already gathered to grieve, he says, but he declined to name the family because of protocol requiring that deceased aboriginal people are not named until all the members of the family have been informed. (More Australia stories.)