A daring rescue mission to find survivors is underway after a partially-built hotel collapsed in downtown New Orleans earlier today .
One person was confirmed dead and several others missing after the top floors of the Hard Rock Casino hotel fell onto the street below, sending terrified bystanders scrambling for safety.
Firefighters and emergency response teams are sweeping the rubble for survivors - as fears grow that the structure could be vulnerable to further collapse.
Pictures from the scene show how a crane was left dangling perilously from the hotel's roof.
New Orleans Fire Department spokesperson Tim McConnell said the structure of the upper building remains very unstable.
“Our biggest fear right now is the crane, it’s 270 foot,” McConnell said.
“So the reach of that crane, if it were to come down has a tremendous amount of weight on it.”
A drone will be launched to check the stability of the building while search dog teams will be deployed to look for survivors trapped in the rubble, reports nola.com .
Buildings in the local area have been evacuated with at least 18 people rushed to hospital. Three are in a serious condition.
One person was reported dead at the scene.
Shocking video shows bystanders fleeing for safety as the debris came crashing down around them.
The incident happened on Canal Street, a busy thoroughfare in the centre of the city, at around 9am on Saturday.
One bystander said he saw workers "hanging on", with the crane "just sort of dangling there."
"It was a deep, rumbling sound, like an airplane maybe. It drew my head immediately", another eyewitness said.
"It looked like the concrete just slid from the top all the way down to the street.
He also recounted how one bystander narrowly escaped death.
"One guy -- I don't know how he was spared -- there was rubble all around him."
One tearful woman at the scene said she did not know the location of her husband, a local contractor.
“I don’t know where my husband is,” Nova Espinoza said.
“Nobody from his company has seen him They can’t find where he is.”
The 350-room Hard Rock Casino hotel was slated to open in the spring of 2020 and has been under construction for around a year.
Last month, the city's chief building inspector, Larry Chan, was suspended after a federal probe of corruption allegations against his department.
