An apartment block has collapsed in the Indian financial hub Mumbai, killing six people and injuring three others.

Dozens of rescuers scoured the site on Friday in search of anyone trapped in the wreckage of the building, located in a densely populated area of the city and surrounded by other structures hit with debris.

“There have been six deaths, of which we can confirm two are women. Three persons have also been injured,” a municipal official told Agence France-Presse, asking not to be named.

Rescuers were using heavy equipment to comb through the collapsed building to see if there were other victims, he said.

“We do not yet know the exact number of people who might be trapped.”

An official from India’s emergency response agency said however that he believed the toll of dead and injured would not increase significantly.

“Information indicates two families were caught in the collapse. So we are hoping the numbers will not rise sharply from here,” Commandant Alok Avasthy of the National Disaster Response Force told AFP.

“Two teams from National Disaster Response Force, amounting to 65 personnel, are on the spot and will continue the operation `til we are sure everything is clear,” he said.

Police initially thought no-one was in the building as it had been cleared of tenants after being declared uninhabitable by municipal authorities who had served a demolition notice.