Police believe a father accused of setting fire to his home in Sydney barricaded his family inside while it burned.
Three children, including a toddler and a baby, were killed.
Four other children and their mother survived and are hospitalised in critical but stable conditions.
The man has been identified as 28-year-old Dean Heasman.
He remained in hospital this morning under police guard in an induced coma.
Dean Heasman allegedly barricaded seven children and their mother inside the house as it burned. Three children died. (Source: 1News)
New South Wales police said they were treating the fire as a "domestic violence incident".
Speaking to 1News, a neighbour said the man was "acting differently" in the lead up to the incident.
She said the community was left shocked after yesterday's "heartbreaking and confronting" scene.
One of the surviving children reportedly told rescuers their father ordered them to stay inside while their home burned.
The child said he tried to fight his father to try and save his siblings, adding: "Dad tried to kill us."
Two boys believed to be aged three and six were given CPR at the scene, but could not be saved.
The body of their 10-month-old sister was found inside the home.
"We're alleging that 28-year-old man took direct actions to prevent the rescue of those young lives," NSW Police Homicide Squad Superintendent Danny Doherty said, adding it was "unimaginable how the family is coping".
And another neighbour, who said they were woken by screaming, claimed they saw the father trying to drag the children back inside.
They said he was shouting: "Leave me here to die."
Police and emergency services have praised the "heroic actions" of neighbours who they said went to "extraordinary measures" to save the lives of the remaining children.
"They suffered various injuries as a result. The neighbour that did try to assist helped further lives from being lost," said Acting Superintendent Jason Pietruszka.
The father was not known to police and did not have any previous convictions.
A homicide investigation is now underway, and a report is being prepared for the coroner.
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