An investigation is underway after children found a decomposed body in a north Birmingham apartment.

The discovery was made Wednesday afternoon at the North Birmingham Homes public housing community in the Vice Hills community. Police responded to a vacant apartment in the 3000 block of 44th Avenue North.

Officer Truman Fitzgerald said the police department’s Community Safety Partnership Division received a call reporting that some children had possibly come across a dead body in an apartment unit.

The officers arrived at the complex and discovered a person dead inside a room in an apartment. They then made contact with Birmingham Housing Authority.

“We’re in the process of seeing who was the previous resident of the apartment,’’ Fitzgerald said.

The body appears to be that of a female. Fitzgerald said it’s too soon to know whether foul play was involved.

“There’s no way to tell what happened,’’ he said.