Three people were still missing in an accident that killed four construction workers on Sunday in New York City.

Rescue teams picked through the rubble of a town house crushed by a toppling construction crane.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference that the three people missing were all construction workers.

"The FDNY (New York City Fire Department) has reported 24 total injuries, including 11 injured first responders. Tragically, as you know, four construction workers died yesterday, and we have not been able to locate three other construction workers."

Crews removed one section of the 19-story-tall crane. It crashed onto the four-story brownstone and seriously damaged five other buildings in an affluent East Side neighbourhood on Saturday.

The collapse comes amid a building boom in New York City and follows a spate of construction accidents in recent months, including a few involving cranes.