The bodies of three young boys were found in a refrigerator in a university cafeteria, and the circumstances of their death were not clear, police said Friday.

The bodies of boys aged 10 to 12 were discovered Thursday in the northern Serbian town of Novi Sad by a porter making rounds at the cafeteria.

The man said he first noticed blood dripping from the unused refrigerator and almost fainted at the sight of the bodies packed inside, the Politika newspaper reported.

An initial police investigation concluded the boys suffocated inside the refrigerator, the paper said. They had apparently struggled to open the door and hurt themselves in panic.

Two of the boys were naked and the third was wearing only pants. Police did not rule out the possibility that they were forced inside the refrigerator.