A mother trapped by fire in her second-floor apartment dropped her two-day-old baby and two-year-old toddler from a window to rescuers.

The children were uninjured by the fire and the 20ft fall, police in Sydney said.

They were apparently caught by neighbours holding a bedsheet over scattered mattresses before firefighters arrived. The 27-year-old mother was rescued by fire crews using a ladder and was taken to hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation and cuts.

The fire, which broke out in a kitchen in a block of flats in the suburb of Lakemba, spread to other apartments and about 50 people were evacuated from the block.