Five people were injured after a roof collapsed at the FC Twente football stadium in eastern Netherlands during building work Thursday, Dutch public television reported.

The injured are thought to be construction workers who were working on the stadium roof in the eastern Dutch town of Enschede, NOS reported.

"I can confirm that around noon there was a collapse at the FC Twente stadium. Part of the roof collapsed," Jan Lamberts told AFP.

Contacted by AFP, an Enschede municipal spokeswoman declined to give further details, but said they would hold a press conference in Enschede at 14:30 pm (1230 GMT).

Television pictures showed the part of the roof having collapsed on to an embankment on one of the goal-ends of the stadium, trapping people underneath. Paramedics could be seen removing the injured from the scene.

Dutch media reported that construction work was underway at the time of the collapse, which happened after a crane drove into the structure.

Rescue workers on the scene were freeing those trapped underneath the rubble, Dutch news agency ANP reported, and a helicopter flew to the scene to treat the injured.

A hospital spokesperson confirmed that there were casualties in comments to ANP, but could not say how many.

Witnesses told how they saw construction workers running away from the work site at De Grolsch Veste stadium as it started to collapse around noon, ANP reported.

"It collapsed with a huge noise like a house of cards," a witness, who saw the incident from an office next to the stadium, told the agency.

"I heard a huge bang and there was big noise," another witness told local television.

FC Twente plays in the Dutch first division.