A divorced dad seen here with his three kids has strangled them to death before poisoning himself and surviving.

The Austrian man living in Croatia who was named as Harald Kopitz, 56, was reportedly a Freemason and shortly before he carried out the shocking murder and attempted suicide, had complained on Facebook about a lack of support from his “brothers” – believed to be a reference to fellow Freemasons.

The incident took place in the Mlini district of the Croatian capital on Saturday night (25th September) and the police entered the apartment at around 2am.

Officers found the bodies of three children, two boys and a girl, along with the 56-year-old dad, and after being taken to hospital, doctors said that the man was out of danger, according to the Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung.

Under Croatian law, he reportedly faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.

The suspect is believed to have killed his three children, two seven-year-old twins and his four-year-old son, before trying to poison himself with pills, according to the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list.

The dad and his ex-wife are divorced and the children were reportedly spending the weekend with their father in Croatia when the incident took place.

At about midnight, he reportedly posted on Facebook: “Goodbye everyone, I’ll leave you, I can’t do any more.”

His girlfriend, who has not been named, dumped him because his ex-wife had been cruel to her, and the suspect, who was reportedly depressed, had run out of money, Kronen Zeitung reports.

The four-year-old boy was found dead on a bed in a bedroom while the two twins were found in the living room.

Davor Vagic, head of the Zagreb Hospital of the Sisters of Mercy where the father was taken, said during a press conference on Saturday afternoon that he was stable and conscious after being taken to the hospital by ambulance, accompanied by the police, in an “impaired state”.

The man is reportedly under police guard in hospital.

The suspect was a financial adviser with a degree from Danube University Krems, according to Kronen Zeitung.

He has worked with many well-known leasing companies, and operated his own business in Vienna before opening a second company in Croatia where he has been working since 2007.

Still according to the Austrian newspaper, he was apparently a member of a Masonic lodge and in his Facebook post, he reportedly complained about a lack of support from “his brothers”.

The investigation continues.