Mother in Germany 'poisoned' her five children and left eldest unharmed

Teddy bears and candles are displayed in front of a house in Solingen, Germany. Photo / AP

A 27-year-old mother allegedly poisoned five of her six children in Germany on Thursday before trying to take her own life.

The mother, named locally as Christiane K, remains in a serious condition after she tried to take her life at Dusseldorf station, 32km from the flat in Solingen, near Cologne and Duesseldorf, where her three girls and two boys lay dying.

The mother's sixth and eldest child, Marcel, 11, was unharmed and is believed to have taken the train with his mother after the crime before they split up. It is believed he travelled on to his grandmother's house.

Employees of a funeral company carry a corpse to a hearse under the protection of police officers. Photo / AP

The dead girls were ages 1, 2 and 3, and the boys were 6 and 8, German news agency dpa reported. A police source told RTL that they were poisoned with tablets.

There was no immediate official information on the causes of death or possible motive.

The bodies were found after the children's grandmother, who lives 60km away, notified police on Thursday afternoon, said the region's top security official, Herbert Reul.

Police said they had been unable to contact the children's father.

Police said the children's grandmother alerted them to the tragedy at 2pm and ambulances rushed to the flat in Solingen.

Rescuers themselves were said to be traumatised by what they found in the building, and also shocked by the state of the flat.

A policewoman stands in front of a house entrance in Solingen, Germany. Photo / AP

One report said that rescuers had tried to resuscitate the children but arrived too late to save their lives.

It is not clear if the surviving child witnessed any of what unfolded in the apartment.

Stefan Weiand, a police spokesman at the house, said it was a "tragic situation" and added that the mother was not yet in a fit state to be questioned.

"We are assuming a crime was committed. How and why that happened, we cannot say," he told broadcaster WDR.