Spain flats collapse kills one

BARCELONA, Spain -- A five-storey block of flats collapsed on its sleeping occupants, killing one person and injuring seven, Spanish emergency officials said.

Another person was missing feared trapped in the rubble of the building in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, near Barcelona.

Seven people were pulled from the rubble, including a six-year-old girl, and a 40-year-old man was seriously injured, Nuria Iglesias, an emergency spokeswoman for the Catalunya region, told The Associated Press.

"The firemen are continuing to work at the site and for now, we can only confirm that there are seven injured, one of them very seriously," a spokeswoman for the local town council told Reuters.

Fire officials said they did not yet know why the building collapsed shortly before 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) but suspect a gas explosion.

Witnesses told local media they heard a powerful blast before the building collapsed, AP reported.