The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Vancouver

Fire-fighters responding to a reported gas leak found at least six people dead, suspected murdered, Friday in a high rise apartment in this western Canadian city, police said.

"There are at least six deceased individuals, adults, inside an apartment on the 15th floor," homicide investigator Dale Carr told AFP. He said police are treating the case in the Vancouver suburb of Surrey "as a homicide scene." Coroners were still on the scene late Friday night, and Carr said the homicide squad expected to start their investigation overnight.

"We just don't know if its a murder-suicide, we don't know if its a multiple murder, we don't know any of these things at this time," Carr said.

No information was released on whether the dead people were related to each other, or about their nationality, race or sex.

"It's really too early for us to talk about how these individuals died," Carr added. He said there are hundreds of apartments in the immediate area, and police expect to interview "hundreds of people."

The false report of a gas leak in the apartment caused massive confusion Friday afternoon in the densely populated neighborhood of new apartment buildings.

For several hours, as fire-fighters prepared to enter the apartment, ambulances gathered, police cordoned off streets and the nearby King George transit station was closed.

Multiple murders are extremely rare in Canada. The Surrey bodies were found just days after Statistics Canada reported a 10 per cent drop in the country's homicide rate, to 1.85 per 100,000 population. There were 605 murders last year, 58 fewer than in 2005.