The crane snapped into two parts, damaging three nearby buildings and completely destroyed a fourth, Bloomberg said.

The building that was destroyed was a five-story brownstone with a popular bar in the first floor which, fortunately, was not open at the time.

Over 300 firefighters, 150 police officers and many other emergency workers are working at the site. Police dogs and listening devices were deployed to looking for victims trapped in the rubbles.

Several blocks in the vicinity of crane collapse remain cordoned off to traffic. Several buildings nearby are being vacated and occupants are told to go to a shelter set up in a school.

Authorities are still probing what had caused the crane collapse.

The construction site has had 13 violations with the New York City Department of Buildings since 2006, but that was a normal number for a construction site of similar size, authorities said.

Workers flip over a car to get to a gas shut-off valve after a construction crane collapsed over a residential building in New York March 15, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)