Construction worker rescued from burning building in heart-stopping video

The shocking footage shows the man holding onto a balcony for dear life as flames lick the buidling

A ladder from an emergency vehicle reaches out to rescue the man from the window ledge

A construction worker has been saved from a burning apartment complex in Texas only moments before it began to collapse in on itself.

The man was spotted clinging on to a balcony on the fourth floor of the building in Houston after the huge fire broke out yesterday.

The block of flats was under construction when the blaze started and quickly spread across the high-rise.

In a YouTube video posted online yesterday by user Karen Jones, the worker is forced to retreat outside as he desperately tries to escape the flames and thick, billowing smoke.

He is rescued just in time, with the help of a ladder, as the upper floors start to crumble and fall away.

The apartment neighbours the AIG building and employees were evacuated as a precaution but it appears that the worker did not receive any warnings and got trapped inside.

Around 200 members of the emergency services attended the scene and the fire was brought under control by mid-afternoon, two and half hours after it started.

Speaking to Khou 11 News, AIG employee Brook Syers said: "The southeast wall of the building had been breached by flames, so it was warm by the window and they told everybody to get out."

"When you start feeling the heat you know the flames aren’t too far away."

There were no injuries reported and all of the building site workers have been accounted for, while AIG staff returned to work today.

The cause of the fire is not known and is under investigation.