Two people were killed and 10 were injured when two apartment buildings collapsed overnight in the historical centre of Palermo in Sicily, Italian emergency services said.

Firefighters and police rescued a young girl from the rubble this morning, but were still searching for two missing women aged 80 and 74. Ten people were injured, though not seriously, Italian media reported.

"We heard creaking and stones slipping, and instinctively we got out of the building," a woman who lived in one of the buildings told reporters.

The accident is the latest in a series of similar incidents in Italy, where illegal construction and lax building standards are rife.