A concrete wall collapsed and crushed several vehicles in southern Ecuador early Wednesday, killing at least five people, four of them children, emergency services said.

“A total of four injured and five dead,” the emergency services said in a statement after rescue workers recovered the bodies from the rubble in Las Lomas, in the southern province of Azuay.

Authorities said the dead were two females, aged 37 and seven, and three males, aged 11, 13 and 14.

A 30-meter (100-foot) stretch of five-meter-high retaining wall “gave way and fell onto four vehicles with occupants” that were parked alongside it, according to the statement.

Emergency services coordinator Alexandra Altamirano said three of the injured were taken to hospital and another was treated at the scene.

Police are investigating the cause of the collapse. (AFP)