Grandmother lucky to be alive after ceiling collapses on her bed in her Melbourne home

A grandmother is lucky to be alive after her ceiling collapsed on her while she was sleeping. 

The 90-year-old grandmother was resting in her bed in St Albans, Melbourne's northwest, about 5.30am on Monday.

The ceiling suddenly came down, trapping her under the rubble.

The woman's granddaughter Teresa, who didn't want to use her last name, told 9News that her mother had heard the commotion and called her for help.

'Mum heard a loud crash,' she said. 

'She said to come over, "The roof's collapsed and grandma's stuck inside".'

'Grandma was yelling out saying, "Help me, help me".'

After arriving at her grandmother's home, Teresa and her mum couldn't get the  bedroom door open to assist the elderly woman so they contacted emergency services.

Paramedics and the fire brigade showed up minutes later, with rescuers entering the home with a ladder and bolt cutters.

After quickly gaining access to the front room in the house, the grandmother was found under the rubble, close to the door. 

Emergency services were amazed to find the grandmother largely unscathed, only suffering from a sore neck where she was struck by pieces of falling plaster.

Though the cause of the collapse is unknown, the family were aware of a crack in the ceiling appearing in the days leading up to the incident, according to Teresa.

'We didn't see any water marks, anything like that, only thing was a crack in the corner, that's why we called insurance yesterday,' she said.

When surveying her grandmothers damaged room Teresa was asked by 9 News if the family should buy a lotto ticket.

 'Should we? It's insane, isn't it'

The family is now too concerned to stay in the house and will live in alternative accommodation as a precautionary measure. 

Insurance assessors set to visit in the coming days,