Six dead in Canadian 'homicide'

Canadian police are investigating a suspected mass murder after up to six people were found dead in a suburban flat outside Vancouver.

A police spokesman described the scene as a "graphic homicide".

The bodies were found by firefighters after neighbours in the building reported a suspected gas leak.

The building was initially evacuated and roads in the area closed for fear of an explosion but police later said they believed there was no gas leak.

"We're looking at perhaps a very dramatic homicide scene with as many as six dead," said Sgt Roger Morrow of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

He said he did not know if it was a murder-suicide.

Identity unknown

Residents of the large block of flats in Surrey, outside Vancouver, may have mistaken the smell of decomposing bodies for a gas leak, said RCMP homicide investigator Cpl Dale Carr.

"We have not yet been able to determine who these individuals are," said Cpl Carr.

"We have not been able at this time to determine the gender or the race of these individuals," he added.

The bodies were discovered Friday afternoon by firefighters who were called to investigate a suspected gas leak.