SECUNDERABAD – A two-storey hotel collapsed in the southern Indian city of Secunderabad on Monday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 16 others, police said.

Rescue workers were searching through tonnes of rubble for those still trapped after the incident in Andhra Pradesh state, local police official K. Satyanarayana told AFP.

"Twelve people have been found dead so far after City Light hotel collapsed early this morning, we are still trying to clear the rubble and rescue anyone alive," Satyanarayana said.

Some 25 people were working at the hotel, located on a busy road in Secunderabad, when a kitchen wall gave way, triggering a larger collapse and burying staff under debris, local police official B. Surender told AFP.

At least five people have suffered serious injuries, Surender said. It was unclear how many people, hotel employees as well as customers and others, were still trapped under the rubble.

"The building was very old and the walls showed cracks, according to people working nearby," he added.

Rescue workers used diggers, cranes and electric cutters to try to clear the debris, as family members of the hotel workers waited at the site for news.

Several buildings have collapsed in India in recent months, many of them apartment blocks in the financial capital Mumbai, including one in April that killed 74 people.

The collapses have highlighted pervasive poor construction standards in the country, where massive demand for housing and endemic corruption often result in illegal buildings and a lack of safety inspections.