It took seeing the body of his seven-month-old baby boy to convince an Mpumalanga father that his entire family had died in what police suspect could be a poisoning incident.

Pearl Mahlangu‚ a 31-year-old nurse at Emalahleni Private Hospital‚ was found dead on the floor of her home in Witbank while her three children‚ Quanisha (10)‚ Quirino (5) and 7-month-old Qwain‚ were found dead in their beds.

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Witbank SAPS spokesperson Sergeant David Ratau said the father‚ whose name police are yet to release‚ arrived in the morning after his family members were declared dead.

 “The man is broken‚ he is in complete shock. He was in denial until he saw the baby’s body‚ and then he just cried. Police are speaking to him at the station‚” said Ratau.

“He (the father) says he doesn’t know anything (about how his family died). There is more to this story‚” Ratau said.

ER24 Spokesperson Russel Meiring said that that the bodies showed no sign of injury and that it was evident that they had been dead for some time before being discovered.

The bodies were discovered after a cleaner was unable to gain entry into the home.

Ratau said that the cleaner phoned Mahlangu’s sister after her calls went unanswered

 “The sister arrived but was unable to gain entry to the home. She called local police who then opened the home to find Mrs Mahlangu and her children dead‚” Ratau said.

Ratau said that he was unable to say how they died‚ but that he suspected poisoning.

 Meiring said that paramedics arrived at the home at approximately 8.15am after police had found the bodies.

 “Unfortunately‚ nothing could be done by paramedics and the patients were pronounced dead‚” Meiring said.

The events surrounding the deaths were still unknown.

Local authorities were on the scene to investigate.