Eight people have died and 18 more were injured after a three-story building collapsed in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, the BBC reported.
Witnesses described hearing a loud boom and seeing dust in the air as the building came down and fell into an adjacent construction pit where people were working on Wednesday. Mayor Zohran Mamdani described a harrowing scene, saying 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." Rescue operations ended about 24 hours later on Thursday after fire officials determined there were no more victims at the site. The site has now been turned over to the Department of Buildings and the New York police.
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue was constructed in the 1930s and contained apartments and a store. At the construction site next door, plans have been approved for a new building that will include 64 residential units and a grocery store on the bottom floor. Active work was happening on the site, and it appears part of the building fell into the construction pit, trapping and killing some workers, the BBC reported.
An investigation, and the people who were killed
It is too early to say what caused the collapse at around 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday, but officials say they are looking into the possibility of filing criminal charges. The structure was fully occupied by residents, and construction workers were performing excavation work on a neighboring site, according to CBS News, the BBC's U.S. partner. It is not clear if the construction had anything to do with the collapse, and the city's buildings department said it is still investigating. Investigators have said developers have active permits for excavation and foundation work associated with the new project.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office is "working closely with the Department of Buildings and our law enforcement partners to determine whether any criminal conduct contributed to this tragedy." Mamdani later said every entity involved in the building and the construction site will be investigated and held accountable.
Eight people — six adults and two children — were killed. Two were construction workers. A further 18 people were injured. Mamdani said six people were pronounced dead at the scene and two died in hospital. Four of the injured are firefighters. One person still in hospital is in a critical condition, the BBC reported.
A senior official with the NYPD identified some of the victims as Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9; Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10; Barry Mamadou, 23; and Ndiaye Mamadou, 31, who were residents of the building, according to CBS, as reported by the BBC. Other victims lived elsewhere: Gabriel Siguencia, 22, in the Bronx; Edgar Sapon, 26, in Hell's Kitchen; and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26, in Bushwick. Mamdani said they were "young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and beyond." The consul general of Ecuador visited the site and confirmed that two victims are Ecuadorian nationals, the New York Times reported. Officials have not yet said what caused the building to fall.