The video will start in 8 Cancel

News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

At least one person has been killed and four others left under the rubble after an eight-storey building collapsed in Istanbul, Turkish private broadcaster NTV reports.

Dramatic images and video footage from the scene show people clambering over the collapsed structure.

Debris is strewn everywhere and many are seen frantically on their phones, trying to get help.

Piles of broken furniture lay in the middle of the street amid the scene of destruction in the Maltepe area of Istanbul.

There were 12 flats in the building which collapsed following an 'explosion,' local reports say.

The interior of the apartment block was 'full of witnesses', Ensonhaber reports.

Eyewitnesses said there were still people under the rubble, ABC Gazetesi reports.

(Image: Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)

Firefighters, rescue teams and ambulance crews are on the scene of the incident.

Relatives of people living in the flats have also flocked to the area, reports say.

Rescue teams are searching the wreckage for the four believed to be trapped under the rubble.

An eyewitness told Dusunce Mektebi: "We jumped out of the noise.

"When we got out, we saw the building collapse."

It currently remains unclear why the building collapsed, but reports say it fell at about 4pm local time.

Istanbul Governor Ali Yerlikaya has reportedly gone to the scene following the incident.