AT least 50 people died and another 53 were injured early yesterday when a heavily-armed gunman opened fire and seized hostages at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, police said. It was the worst mass shooting in US history.

Terrified survivors — who moments before were laughing and dancing with friends — described how the gunman named by media as a US citizen of Afghan descent raked the club with bullets, prompting a police SWAT team to storm the venue.

“We have cleared the building, and it is with great sadness that I share we have not 20, but 50 casualties in addition to the shooter,” Mayor Buddy Dyer told a mid-morning news briefing in Orlando, more than doubling the previously given death toll.

“There are another 53 that are hospitalized,” Dyer said.

Most are in a critical condition, officials said.

“I think we will see the death toll rise,” said Dr Mike Cheatham, a trauma surgeon at Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Mayor Dyer said all of the dead were killed with the assault rifle.

“There’s blood everywhere,” Dyer said.

US President Barack Obama was being kept up to date by his homeland security and counterterrorism aide on what Florida officials are investigating as a terrorist attack.

FBI official Ronald Hopper told reporters officials were “confident” there was no immediate further threat to the area, or to the United States.

Because of the scale of the crime, however, Mayor Dyer declared a city-wide state of emergency and has asked the Florida governor to take the same measure state-wide. The federal government has offered its full support with the investigation.

Police have yet to officially identify the gunman but US television networks quoting law enforcement sources named him as Omar Mateen, who was born to Afghan parents in 1986 and lives in Port St Lucie, Florida, about two hours’ drive from Orlando.

CBS News reported that Mateen — who died in a shootout with police after the siege — has no apparent criminal history.

Hopper said authorities were looking into whether the suspect had “leanings” toward Islamic extremism, but Florida officials also invited a local Islamic leader to address the media in a bid to preempt a possible backlash against the Muslim community.

The chaotic events unfolded over a three hour period, beginning at around 2am when shots rang out amid the throbbing music at the Pulse Orlando nightclub near closing time.

Police said the shots were fired by a gunman armed with an assault rifle and a handgun.

A police officer working “extra duties” at the club responded, joined by two other officers, who engaged the suspect in a gun battle, Orlando police chief John Mina said.

“The suspect at some point went back inside the club where more shots were fired. This did turn into a hostage situation,” he told reporters.

“At approximately 0500 hours this morning, the decision was made to rescue hostages that were in there.”

Police then stormed the venue, using explosives and breaking through a wall with an armored vehicle known as a BearCat.

Mina said about 30 people were rescued during the operation.

The attack coincides with gay pride month in the US, with marches and events being held all over the country including in Orlando last week.

It was the second shooting incident in the city in just over 24 hours, coming shortly after singer Christina Grimmie was shot dead on Friday by a gunman who stormed a theater where she had a gig.

Mina said there was no indication of a link between the two shootings.

Speaking to Sky News, Orlando clubber Ricardo Negron, who was inside when the shooting began, described how the gunman raked the club with bullets.

“People just dropped on the floor. I guess the shooter was shooting at the ceiling because you could see all the glass from the lamps falling,” he said.

He described hearing “non-stop firing” which probably lasted less than a minute but felt like a lot longer.

“There was a brief pause in the shooting and some of us just got up and ran out the back.”

The Pulse club advertises itself online as “Orlando’s hottest gay bar.”

The gunman’s father said his son was motivated by hatred of gays, not by his Muslim religion.

“This had nothing to do with religion,” Mir Seddique told NBC News. He said his son recently lashed out in his presence after witnessing a gay couple embracing in downtown Miami, and suggested the incident may have triggered the atrocity.

“He saw two men kissing each other in front of his wife and kid and he got very angry,” Seddique told the network.

Witness Christopher Hanson said he heard loud banging noises, like gunshots going off. “I didn’t see any of the actual shooters. I just saw bodies going down and I was ordering a drink at the bar.

“I fell down. I crawled out. People were trying to escape out the back. I just know that when I hit the ground, I was crawling and I hit my elbows and my knees,” he told CNN.

Rosie Feba was at the club with a friend when the shooting broke out.

“She told me someone was shooting. Everyone was getting on the floor,” Feba told the Orlando Sentinel. “I told her I didn’t think it was real, I thought it was just part of the music, until I saw fire coming out of his gun.”

Jon Alamo said he was at the back of one of the club’s rooms when a man holding a weapon came into the front of the room. “I heard 20, 40, 50 shots,” Alamo said. “The music stopped.”

Club-goer Rob Rick said the shooting started just before closing time. “Everybody was drinking their last sip,” he said.

He estimated more than 100 people were still inside when he heard shots, got on the ground and crawled toward a DJ booth. A bouncer knocked down a partition between the club area and an area in the back where only workers are allowed. People inside were able to then escape through the back of the club.

A woman outside the club early yesterday was trying to contact her 30-year-old son who texted her when the shooting happened and asked her to call police. He told her he ran into a bathroom with other club patrons to hide. He then texted her: “He’s coming.”

“The next text said: ‘He has us, and he’s in here with us,’” Mina Justice said. “That was the last conversation.”

The incident comes on the heels of the deadly shooting at the nearby Plaza Live Theater in which a heavily-armed gunman shot and critically wounded singer Grimmie, a former contestant on the popular TV talent show “The Voice.” She died of her wounds in hospital.