Updated at 7:35pm
FOOTAGE HAS EMERGED of a construction crane collapsing along Broadway in the Tribeca area of lower Manhattan in New York.
The footage shows the crane falling onto the street below:
https://vine.co/v/iJVZ21W3wqE
One person is reported to have died in the incident and two people are seriously injured.
The New York Times quotes an unnamed source saying that at least 15 people are understood to have been hurt.
The incident happened at roughly 8.25am local time (1.25pm Irish time).
The crane collapsed across an intersection at Worth Street and West Broadway and on top of several parked cars, destroying their roofs.
Emergency responders are on the scene while city mayor Bill de Blasio is expected to attend.
A witness who works nearby says he saw onlookers trying to help a person who was trapped in a car.
Robert Harold says he also saw a person lying motionless in the street.
The New York Fire Department reports that at least one person is confirmed as being trapped inside the crane.
The reasons for the crane collapse are not yet known, although photos from the scene indicate that the machine’s base had flipped over.
The collapse of the crane today is not an entirely isolated incident.
In April last year a 40-year-old Irish citizen died in Manhattan after part of a crane collapsed.
With reporting from AP and Cormac Fitzgerald
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