Rugby: A former rugby player burns his wife and three children alive and commits suicide by committing

Rowan Baxter murders his wife Hannah and their 6, 4 and 3 year old children. Commotion in Australia

A former professional rugby player is suspected of killing his three children and his ex-wife, from whom he separated a few months ago, setting the car on fire outside the Australian city of Brisbane.

The 31-year-old woman died on Wednesday at a Brisbane hospital, hours after her three children, aged 3, 4 and 6, were found dead in the car.

Rowan Baxter, also deceased, approached the car, sprayed it with gasoline and set it on fire, according to the newspaper 'The Australian'.

The mother got out of the burning vehicle and shouted “I sprayed myself with gasoline!”, The newspaper reported. Authorities claim that he died in the hospital as a result of severe burns.

Australian public broadcaster ABC said that Baxter, 42, a former rugby player at 13 of the team New Zealand Warriors, I was in the burning vehicle, from which I left before I died on the sidewalk. Other media claim that he died after stabbing himself with a knife.

This tragedy caused a wave of sadness in social networks and many people called for tougher measures to fight against gender violence.

Natasha Stott Despoja, former senator and president of the 'Our Watch' association, described violence against women in Australia as a “national emergency.”

The police, who are investigating the massacre, in the eastern suburbs of Brisbane, say it is too early to know the cause of the fire. “It has not yet been determined how the fire occurred,” said Wednesday the Queensland police inspector Mark thompson. The officer acknowledged that this “heinous scene” is the worst he has ever seen