Children thrown from burning home

Victims survived the fall from the top window (Image: Radio Canada)

A mother in the Canadian city of Montreal has saved the lives of her seven children by throwing them from the window of a burning building.

The fire is reported to have started on the ground floor.

As flames and smoke spread, the mother gathered the children - aged two to 10 - by a second-storey window.

By the time firefighters arrived, she had thrown the children several metres onto a snowbank and jumped. All are being treated at a Montreal hospital.

None of the injuries is life-threatening, police said.

Neighbours praised the woman's instinct and courage.

"She's an extraordinary woman," neighbour Jehu Gauthier told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.