Part of a building in mid-demolition fell onto a pavement in New York today, trapping five people in the rubble including a baby, officials said.

Emergency workers and firefighters rushed into the wreckage to pull out survivors after the collapse occurred on the corner of 100th Street and Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan shortly after 9am this morning.

Using their hands, a chain of buckets and and hydraulic equipment to cut through steel girders, rescuers found five people in the wreckage, including the baby whose face had turned blue.

The injured were taken to St Luke's-Roosevelt hospital, some with serious injuries, although although all are expected to survive.

Racquel Gayle, a local resident, said she stepped into the street and heard a loud explosion, turned turned around and saw the building collapse.

"Everything rocked," she told the Associated Press. "I thought it was a terrorist bomb, people were running everywhere. I saw them pull a baby out of the debris, everyone was pitching in and helping."

Emergency workers and trained dogs continued to search the rubble for any further survivors while investigators tried to work out why part of the building came down.

According to the New York Department of Buildings, the building, a former Gristedes supermarket at 2633 Broadway, was undergoing an approved demolition to make way for a 31-storey new apartment block.

The supermarket closed in April and was sold to the Carlyle Group.

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