Builders working near the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp have found a message in a bottle written by prisoners.

The message, dated 9 September 1944, bears names, camp numbers and home towns of seven young inmates from Poland and France, written in pencil. All were aged between 18 and 20.

At least two survived the war, according to the Auschwitz museum.

The bottle was buried in a concrete wall in a school that prisoners had been forced to rebuild.

An Auschwitz museum spokesman said that the note was buried by “young people who were trying to leave some trace of their existence behind them”.