2 children dead, mother injured in suspected murder-suicide in Miaoli

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A 9-year-old boy and an 8-month-old girl were found dead, while their mother was found alive with slash wounds on her neck and wrists in a suspected murder-suicide case at an apartment building in Miaoli County, authorities said.

The Miaoli County Fire Bureau said it received a call at 2:20 p.m. Monday directing it to a residence in Toufen City, where first responders found three people lying in a bedroom, including two children who were already visibly dead.

Their mother, a woman in her 30s surnamed Wu (吳), was found alive, with slash wounds on her neck and wrists and a knife lodged in the left side of her chest, the fire bureau said.

After attending to Wu's wounds, paramedics transferred Wu to an area hospital to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries, the bureau said.

Sources at the bureau said the woman's husband had recently moved out and was living elsewhere. When he returned to the house on Monday, he found Wu and their two children lying in the bedroom and called emergency services.

Police, who were later called in to investigate, said no suicide letter or traces of burned charcoal were found at the scene. Autopsies will be needed to determine the children's cause of death, Miaoli police said.