Sydney, Sep 10 (IANS): Police Wednesday were searching for a man after his wife and three children were found shot dead at a countryside property in southern Australia.
The bodies of Kim Hunt, son Fletcher, 10, and two daughters, Mia, 8, and Phoebe, 6, were found at a farmhouse near Lockhart, in southern New South Wales Tuesday afternoon.
Police said the children were found inside the property while their 41-year-old mother was found on a path at the back of the house, Xinhua reported.
"While a postmortem will be conducted to formally establish the cause of their deaths, they are believed to have all suffered gunshot wounds," a police statement said.
Police searched the area for the missing father, identified as Geoff Hunt, 44, after his pick-up truck was found abandoned near a dam.
Police said divers would search the dam and other waterways Wednesday.