1 dead after 65-foot crane collapses onto house in London, search and rescue underway

LONDON -- One person died and a least four were injured when a 65-foot crane collapsed onto an under-development apartment block in London on Wednesday.

The person who died, who has not been identified, was found and died at the scene, according to the London Ambulance Service.

Of the four injured, two were "treated for head injuries and taken to hospital," the London Ambulance Service tweeted. The other two were assessed but not taken to the hospital.

"A 20 meter crane [65 feet] has collapsed onto a block of flats under development and into two terraced houses on Compton Close," London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Graham Ellis said earlier in a statement. "Our Urban Search and Rescue crews are undertaking a complex rescue operation and using specialist equipment to search the properties."

"This is a multi-agency response and is likely to be a protracted incident. I would ask people to avoid the area," he added.

The fire department was called at 2:39 p.m., and crews from surrounding stations descended on the scene. The London Ambulance Service tweeted that they had dispatched number of teams to the site of the collapse.

Aerial footage from the site shows the crane laying across an apartment block, with a section of the crane having smashed through the roof of an adjacent house.