Several people have been killed and seriously injured during a shooting at a factory near the Swiss city of Lucerne, police said on Wednesday.

Swiss police said in a brief statement that several people had been killed and injured at a shooting at around 9am at a wood processing company called Kronospan in the town of Menznau.

Police said the emergency services were on the scene and the area had been largely cordoned off, but gave no further details, saying only they would give further updates later in the day.

Swiss news agency SDA quoted the rescue helicopter service Rega as saying it had flown four seriously injured people to hospital.

Last month, a gunman killed three women and wounded two men in the Swiss village of Daillon, stirring a debate about Switzerland's fire arms laws that allow its male citizens to retain guns after their mandatory military service.

There is no national gun register but some estimates indicate that at least one in every three of Switzerland's 8 million inhabitants keeps a gun, many stored at home. Citizens outside the military can apply for a permit to purchase up to three weapons from the age of 18 in a country where sharp shooting and hunting are popular sports.

A shooting in the regional parliament of Zug in 2001 that caused 14 deaths prompted calls to tighten laws, but the majority of Swiss citizens rejected a proposal in 2011 for additional measures such as the creation of local arsenals for military weapons outside service periods. – Reuters