Brooklyn Building Collapses Into Construction Site, Killing Two

Two people died and 17 others sustained injuries when a three-story apartment building collapsed into a Brooklyn construction site on Wednesday afternoon.

The four-unit residential building dated from 1930. It crumbled at 4 p.m. in the Flatbush neighborhood, tumbling into an adjoining excavation site.

The structure filled the open construction pit with bricks and wood. A shared wall on an adjacent building was shorn off to expose furnished rooms, including a bedroom and closets filled with clothing.

The collapsed building had been perched at the edge of a lot where another one-story building had been torn down for a construction project. Construction workers were among the injured.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that two people were killed in the disaster. More than ten people were transported to local hospitals suffering from critical and non-life-threatening injuries.

The Associated Press reported that four people were rushed to a hospital in critical condition. Six additional people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.

The New York City Fire Department said that the total victim count reached 19 people, including seven children. One firefighter also suffered minor injuries during the emergency response.

A firefighting crew that happened to be in the neighborhood arrived at the scene within one minute of the collapse. They pulled the first victims directly from the debris.

Emergency personnel used search dogs, drones, power saws, and manual labor to dig through the rubble as darkness fell over the Brooklyn borough. Firefighters used flashlights to illuminate the area as they worked.

Local television station WABC-TV reported that rescuers pulled at least four survivors from the wreckage roughly two to two-and-a-half hours after the initial collapse.

Among those rescued was a pregnant woman. A man who believed she was his wife told a WABC reporter, “I’m very happy, I’m very happy,” after she was hoisted onto a stretcher and moved to an ambulance.

“As emergency operations continue, please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts,” Mamdani said in a statement published on social media.

City fire department chief John Esposito said that rescue teams would require several days to ensure the location is “searched for all potential victims,”

“We do not know how many people are missing overall,” Esposito said.