Fifty one people remain unaccounted for after a building partially collapsed in Miami Beach, killing at least one person and injuring 10, according to US media reports.

Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman told CNN that officials were yet to account for 51 people thought to be residents of the building, but said it was unclear whether any of them were inside when the building collapsed.

More than 80 fire and rescue units were at the 12-storey beachfront apartment block in the town of Surfside, with images showing a pile of rubble and debris spilling down from what was left of the balconies of the building.

About 35 occupants who were trapped in the building were pulled from the rubble, a Miami-Dade Fire spokesperson said, and the search for survivors is ongoing.

The town's mayor has warned the death toll is likely to rise.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and the victims", said Alfredo Ramirez, director of the Miami-Dade Police Department told a press conference.

"This is not going to be something that's long term, it's at least going to be a week," he said of the search.

Fire officials confirmed the search for survivors is continuing and firefighters are shoring up the structure as they work.

Surfside's mayor Charles Burkett confirmed earlier on Thursday that at least one person had died, while officials say 10 were injured.

Mr Burkett warned during a news conference that the building manager told him the tower was quite full and the number of dead was likely to rise.

"The building is literally pancaked," Mr Burkett said.

"That is heart-breaking because it doesn't mean to me that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive."

Sergeant Marian Cruz of the Surfside Police Department said: "We're on the scene so it's still very active.

"What I can tell you is the building is 12 floors. The entire back side of the building has collapsed."

Police have cordoned off nearby roads, with scores of fire and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police cars deployed in the area.

A witness who lives nearby, Victor Cohen, told local television station that the building had "collapsed like a pancake."

Barry Cohen, 63, said he and his wife were asleep in the building when he first heard what he thought was a crack of lightning.

The couple went onto their balcony, then opened the door to the building's hallway to find "a pile of rubble and dust and smoke billowing around."

"I couldn't walk out past my doorway," said Mr Cohen, the former vice mayor of Surfside.

"A gaping hole of rubble."

He and his wife eventually made it to the basement and found rising water there.

They returned upstairs, screamed for help and were eventually brought to safety by firefighters using a cherry picker.

Mr Cohen said he raised concerns years ago about whether nearby construction might be causing damage to the building after seeing cracked pavers on the pool deck

NBC said the rescue teams included a unit that is trained in the removal of victims trapped in complex or confined spaces.

Santo Mejil, 50, told the Miami Herald his wife called him from the building, where she was working as an aide for an elderly woman.

"She said she heard a big explosion. It felt like an earthquake," Mr Mejil told the newspaper.

He said she later called him and said rescuers were bringing her down.

NBC Miami showed a video of a young boy being pulled alive from the rubble.

Footage from the scene shows the collapse affected half the tower and debris from the collapse coated cars two blocks away in a light layer of dust.

According to NBC, the building, called Champlain Towers South, was built in 1981 and has more than 100 residential units.

It had a few two-bedroom units currently on the market, with asking prices of $600,000 to $700,000.

The area is a mix of new and old apartments, houses, condominiums and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists.

Officials haven't confirmed the number of people who were inside the building at the time of the collapse.

Willie Gomez, who owns a condo in the building, said: "When I got here and one of the cameramen had some pictures from the backside, it looks like a whole just from top to bottom section of the building just collapsed.

"Something you see in an earthquake or something, but not something like this. It's a little shocking."

The building is located across from a beach in the oceanfront community of about 6,000 people and police blocked nearby roads and traffic was being diverted early on Thursday.