Eight people were killed and 18 others were injured when a three-story building in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood collapsed on Wednesday and fell into a neighboring construction pit, the BBC reported.
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, constructed in the 1930s and occupied by apartments and a store, came down about 4 p.m. local time. Witnesses described a loud boom and a cloud of dust. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said workers "who had only barely survived themselves turned back and dug victims out of the rubble." Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said firefighters were on the scene within minutes and called their actions "incredibly heroic."
The victims, and the search
Authorities said the eight people killed were six adults and two children; two of the dead were construction workers. Mamdani said six people were pronounced dead at the scene and two died in a hospital. Of the 18 injured, four were firefighters, and one person remained in the hospital in critical condition, the BBC reported. Officials had not publicly identified the victims. Mamdani called them "our friends and our neighbours. Our parents and our children" and said they included "young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and beyond." More than 250 firefighters responded. On Thursday, Bonsignore said crews were "still in a recovery phase" and would continue, despite rain and falling temperatures, until every victim was located.
What is known about the site — and what is not
The building stood next to an active construction site where plans have been approved for a new building with 64 residential units and a grocery store on the ground floor. It appears part of the building fell into the construction pit, trapping and killing some workers, the BBC reported. Construction workers were doing excavation work on the neighboring site, according to CBS News, the BBC's U.S. partner. Officials said 1321 Flatbush Avenue was fully occupied. It is not clear whether the construction caused the collapse. Ahmed Tigani, head of the city Department of Buildings, said Thursday that no building-code violations had been reported at the property before the collapse, and that the developer, identified as Robert Fischman, has ties to at least 100 other sites in the city that are now being checked. Investigators said developers have active permits for excavation and foundation work. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office is working with the buildings department and law-enforcement partners "to determine whether any criminal conduct contributed to this tragedy." Mamdani said every entity involved in the building and the construction site would be investigated. This account does not assign blame.