Three elderly people died and 14 were in serious condition after a fire ripped through a Sydney nursing home in Australia, yesterday in what emergency services called their “worst nightmare”.

Hundreds of firefighters, police and paramedics raced to the Quakers Hill Nursing Home in the early hours of the morning after an automatic fire alarm went off, to find a “chaotic and tragic” scene.

“This is a firefighter’s worst nightmare – turning up to a nursing home where there are elderly people who can’t get themselves out of harm’s way,” said New South Wales (NSW) Fire and Rescue commissioner Greg Mullins.

“We had dozens of firefighters in breathing apparatus working in thick black smoke where they couldn’t see their hands in front of their faces, so imagine what it was like for the elderly trying to escape.”

New South Wales police superintendent Robert Redfern said that three bodies had been found in the smouldering building. Ambulance officials added that many residents were hurt in the disaster with 14 in intensive care, some with severe burns.

Superintendent Redfern warned that with the injured so old and frail, the death toll might rise. Earlier reports had suggested up to nine people may have died.

Rescuers had to go into the building on hands and knees in acrid smoke to save anyone they could, Mr Mullins said.