Five people have died, four others are injured and one person is missing after a building collapsed in Poland.

The incident occurred on Saturday in the town of Swiebodzice in the southwest of the country.

The dead included two children.

One survivor declared that she had been “miraculously saved”.

The survivor, identified only by her first name, Stanislawa, said: “I was in the kitchen and suddenly it was dark and full of debris and some broken wooden planks.

“I got on top of those planks and started calling, ‘Help! Help!’ Two firefighters came and pulled me out by the arm.”

She said her husband was resting in bed in the building at the time of the collapse.

“I don’t know what has happened to him,” she said.

A gas explosion may have caused the collapse of two floors of the three-floor building, which was constructed before the second World War.

Rescue operation

Scores of firefighters with dogs were searching the rubble for the missing person.

The search and rescue operation is expected to continue throughout the weekend.

Polish prime minister Beata Szydlo was to travel to the site, which is 402km southwest of Warsaw, to be with the victims and the rescue workers.

The governor of Swiebodzice, Bogdan Kozuchowicz, said the building was renovated recently and had been in good technical condition.

AP