Sydney, Sep 9 (IANS): Three children have been hospitalised with life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out in a house in the suburbs of Melbourne, police said on Monday.

The children were rescued from a house that had caught fire in the outer northwest of Melbourne in the state of Victoria by emergency services on Sunday night, Xinhua news agency reported.

Victoria Police said in a statement that all three received immediate medical care at the site and were taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the children are aged five years, three years and 21 months.

Firefighters were deployed to the house in the suburb of Sydenham in Melbourne at approximately 9:40 p.m. local time after callers to emergency services reported hearing a loud bang.

Upon arrival, firefighters found flames and thick smoke billowing from the back of the house, and then entered the house to extinguish the fire and rescue the three children.

No one else was injured in the fire and police are working to establish if anyone else was present in the home at the time or just before the fire.

Police said the area had been cordoned off, and a crime scene was established on Monday morning. Detectives and an arson chemist from the arson and explosives squad were set to investigate the cause of the fire.