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One dead, six injured after crane smashes into apartment building

A woman has been killed and at least six injured when a construction crane fell on an apartment building during a storm with high winds in the US state of Texas.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman Jason Evans told reporters at a briefing on the accident that a woman in the apartment building was killed when the crane cut a gash in the apartment building, apparently slicing through some of the apartments.

Evans said it is too early to say whether there may be more people hurt, killed or missing.

"The building itself has suffered multiple collapses in different areas of the building to include residential spaces and the parking garage," Mr Evans said.

The crane resting on the damaged building in Dallas.
The crane resting on the damaged building in Dallas. Source: AP

Of those injured, two were listed in critical condition, three had suffered serious injuries and one suffered minor injuries and was later discharged from a hospital.

Crews were called to the site of the collapse just before 2pm, after the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm watch for the Dallas/Fort Worth area and warned of winds up to 110km/h.

Mr Evans said the reason the crane fell is unconfirmed but there is a "strong possibility" that the winds "played some role in the collapse."

Isaiah Allen told the Dallas Morning News he was in his apartment when he heard what he thought was a deafening thunderclap.

"I saw that the crane had actually fell straight through the building and had destroyed a good eight to 10 apartments and so there's like floors and stuff falling through," he said.

Allen told the paper he saw a bloodied woman trapped in her apartment on the second floor.

Dallas crane collapse.
Authorities are unclear how many people have been killed or injured in the collapse.Source: KTVT
Crane collapse Dallas
One woman has been confirmed dead. Source: AP

Yesenia Bosquez's family had moved into their top-floor apartment just two weeks ago. She returned from a shopping trip to find her apartment, where she'd left her husband, Jay, to recover from a shoulder injury, crushed by the twisted metal.

It took about 30 minutes for authorities to tell her that her husband had been rescued alive and had been holding their dog while medics worked on his injuries.

"It felt like a year," Mrs Bosquez said.

Video shows the downed crane ripped a large hole in the east side of the building and landed on an adjacent parking garage. Evans said the top priority for search and rescue personnel was the eastern side of the building where all five floors collapsed and where the deceased woman was found.

Mr Evans said "every single level of the parking garage in part has collapsed" and that multiple vehicles were damaged. He said he was not sure if anybody was in the garage at the time of the collapse.

He said rescue personnel were using dogs to try to find people who might be trapped inside the rubble.

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