Children key to cult suicides

Quebec police are hoping three teenagers, who apparently opted not to join their parents in a ritual cult suicide at the weekend, will help them unravel some of the continuing mystery surrounding the Order of the Solar Temple doomsday cult. Authorities had believed the cult was no longer active in Quebec until a fiery ritual in a farmhouse at Saint-Casimir near Quebec City left five people dead.

When police and firefighters arrived at the burning farmhouse on Saturday evening they found two boys aged 13 and 16 and a girl aged 14 in an adjoining building in a confused and apparently drugged state. They were put into the custody of a social agency.