At least one person has died and two more seriously injured after a crane collapsed on to a New York street during morning rush hour. Several cars were damaged after the crane fell down on to on Worth Street in the Manhattan area.

"I didn't know what was happening because it was happening so fast," one witness told ABC7. "I could hear the bending of metal. I think it hit the side of the building."

The construction crane, which has Bay Crane written on the side, is also believed to have hit a building its way down. A NYPD spokesperson said the construction crane collapse was reported at 8:24am local time at the intersection of Worth Street and Broadway, reported Reuters.

Ed Mullins, president of the NYPD's Sergeants Benevolent Association, told The New York Post that one man is said to have died, believed to have been a construction worker.

Blair Steele who was on her way to work when she saw the crane collapse, told the New York Daily News: "I couldn't even see all the way to the other end. Everyone was in shock. Even the police that were here were totally shocked."

An FDNY spokesperson said: "We have one fatality, an individual that happened to be sitting in a parked car not associated with the work being done with the crane. We have three individuals with injuries - two serious, one minor, and none life threatening as far as we know at this point."