One hurt as crane falls on to shopping centre in Norway during high winds

A view of the scene after a construction crane fell on to the Melhustorget shopping centre in Melhus, Norway (Gorm Kallestad /NTB Scanpix/AP)

A construction crane has crashed on to a shopping centre in central Norway amid strong winds, hurting at least one person and leaving another unaccounted for, police said.

The winds likely caused the unmanned crane, which was at least 165 feet high to slam on to the retail hub in Melhus, which is south of Trondheim, the Scandinavian country’s third-largest city, police spokesman Ebbe Kimo told the VG newspaper.

The crane collapse caused damage to the second floor of the shopping centre and firefighters were going through the building searching for people, police tweeted.

Emergency services at the scene (Gorm Kallestad /NTB Scanpix/AP)

Police spokesman Ole Petter Hollingen told reporters they were using dogs and a drone in their search.

Local newspaper Tronderbladet said the roof inside the shopping centre had caved in.

The crane was on a building site at the Melhustorget shopping centre, which was undergoing an expansion with new shops and apartments.

Strong winds were reported over Norway on Friday, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.