Sydney - Mourners at an Australian crematorium fled Wednesday when the building caught fire.

The blaze at Sydney's Rookwood Cemetery wrecked the crematorium before firefighters could extinguish it.

Mary Ide told the national broadcaster ABC that her fellow mourners initially considered billowing smoke part of the service.

"We thought it was the other side of the crematorium cremating somebody, but the smoke got darker and darker," she said. (dpa)