Six teens found dead after garden party in Germany

Six teenage friends were found dead after celebrating a birthday party in a garden shed in Germany, police said.

The grim discovery was made in Arnstein, a small rural town in Bavaria, on Sunday morning, when the owner of the property, who was also the father of two of the victims, went to check on the group, Suddeutsche Zeitung reports.

He called emergency services, but his son and daughter, as well as four male friends, were declared dead at the scene. All six were aged 18 or 19.

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Karlstadt police chief Thomas Miebach was "visibly affected" as he visited the scene on Sunday afternoon, reports the local Main-Post.

He told the newspaper: "I have not experienced such a thing in my 40-year service."

A police spokesman said an investigation has been opened into the deaths, but that there is no evidence of violent crime. An autopsy will be carried out to determine the cause of death.

Investigators think they could have died from carbon monoxide poisoning from a wood stove inside the shed, although police stressed this was still only a "possibility". Temperatures in Arnstein dropped to -13C over the weekend and the group had lit the stove to keep warm.