Eight dead, including children, in Poland gas explosion

Eight people, including four children, were killed after a gas explosion destroyed a house in a ski resort in the south of Poland late Wednesday, local authorities said.

Around 200 rescuers had scoured the debris of the house in Szczyrk on Thursday morning to find the bodies. No one else is believed to have been inside when the explosion occurred.

"It appears that this is the final toll," local prefect Jaroslaw Wieczorek told reporters, but added that rescuers will continue looking just to make sure.

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