As it fell the crane crashed into the top floor of a 23-storey block of flats at East 91st Street and First Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at around 8am local time (around 1pm in the UK).

This is the second tower crane collapse in New York in as many months. In March seven people died when a crane collapsed in the same area.

Fire fighters have rescued several people from the wreckage and are continuing to search for other possible victims.