Four people have been found dead at the bottom of a seven-storey residential building in the Swiss lakeside city of Montreux, with a fifth admitted to hospital in a serious condition.

Swiss daily Blick, citing an unidentified police official, said the five had jumped from a building.

But regional police spokesman Alexandre Bisenz told the Associated Press that he could not immediately confirm the report.

Mr Bisenz said that an investigation is under way and the five people were found at about 7am on Thursday outside a building near the city’s Casino Barriere.

Montreux is known as a tourist hotspot and in particular for its annual jazz festival.

Mr Bisenz declined to indicate if the victims were Swiss nationals or foreigners.