Australian police are investigating the death of eight children and a woman suffering from stab wounds found inside a home in Cairns, a northern Australian city in Queensland. They were called to the home at 11.20 a.m. on Friday after receiving an emergency call reporting a woman with serious wounds.

They rushed to the house to find the eight dead children with ages ranging from 18 months to 15 years. The 34-year-old woman inside the house was suffering from stab wounds.

The woman is in a stable condition after being rushed to hospital, however the children were stabbed to death. Detective Inspector Bruno Asnicar held a press conference but gave no further information about how the children were killed.

“The crime scene is being locked down and that includes from me – nobody goes in there until our forensic people go in there,” said Mr. Asnicar. “Until we have done that, we’re not going to clearly establish any relationships.”

“These events are extremely distressing for everyone of course, and police officers aren’t immune from that. We’re human beings as well,” he said. “However, the police that we have here are very highly trained and professional people and they’re going about their job in a way that I would expect them to and the QPS would expect them to. We are missing nothing as far as conducting this investigation.”

Detectives are currently investigating the case. A woman claiming to be the woman’s cousin said that the siblings were all related and the woman was their mother. She said that another sibling, a 20-year-old brother, came home to find them dead.