Eight people including four children were killed after a building in the southern Polish ski resort of Szczyrk collapsed late Wednesday, following a gas explosion, reported a local police spokesman on Thursday.

Around 200 firefighters had scoured the debris of the house on Thursday morning in search of bodies.

No one else is believed to have been inside when the explosion occurred.

"It appears that this is the final toll," said the local prefect Jaroslaw Wieczorek.

According to the local gas distributor PSG, the explosion had been preceded by a sudden drop in pressure in the gas pipeline, which could indicate that it had been accidentally punctured during nearby construction works.