Rescue workers have pulled a body from the ruins of a block of flats that collapsed in the Belgian city of Liege following a gas explosion during the small hours of Tuesday night. Three more people are officially listed as missing and 23 are injured, two of whom are in a critical condition, police said.

The blast occurred at 01:45 am in a multi-storey apartment building in the historic centre of the Belgian city. The blast also damaged neighbouring buildings, shattering windows and damaging parked cars.

The building collapsed early on Wednesday morning but almost 12 hours after it came crashing down, emergency workers were still searching for survivors. Two people, one of them a 13-year-old girl, were pulled from the rubble alive during the afternoon. A spokesperson from Liege police said the girl was doing well in hospital.

The accident was apparently caused by a domestic gas leak. On Saturday, a resident of the building contacted emergency services saying he could smell gas. No gas leak was discovered then, according to a local county councillor. Police have launched an investigation to determine exactly what happened.

Scene of Liege gas explosion by belga.com