A family of five Hmong people, including three children, were found dead on a farm in Wang Chao district of Thailand’s western border province of Tak on Wednesday.

Police who rushed to the scene in Village 11 in Chiang Thong sub-district, after being alerted by the victims’ relatives, said that the five bodies appeared to have bullet and knife wounds, adding that the victims are believed to be members of the same family, including the parents and their three children, aged three months, seven and ten.

The motive for the massacre is currently unknown, say the police.

Relatives of the victims told police investigators that the family left home on Saturday to go work the land, about ten kilometres from the village. The wife then called her sister in the village, asking her to send them some rice, but she did not and they did not hear from the family again.

The father of one of the couple became worried, because two of their grandchildren did not go to school, and went to look for them on the farm yesterday (Wednesday). They found the entire family dead and rushed back to the village to alert the authorities.