At least eight people died after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed at the edge of a construction site, New York City’s mayor said Thursday, as emergency workers searched for others still trapped.
Search crews peered into crevices in the rubble, pulling out victims and at least one survivor through the overnight hours. At least 17 people were injured, including three firefighters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. It's not clear how many more people might remain trapped.
The building gave way Wednesday afternoon while construction workers were digging at a neighboring lot, a city official said. The cause was still under investigation.
“We heard the boom and we all rushed outside and saw smoke and dust everywhere,” said Brigitte Anama, a hairstylist at a salon across the street.
Customers and stylists jumped up and ran onto the sidewalk that was engulfed in dust. Anama saw emergency workers pulling people from the site, including what appeared to be a child. “People were saying ‘Pray for the baby, pray for the baby,’” she said.
Two deaths were announced Wednesday and the others were confirmed Thursday. Authorities said late Wednesday that at least seven children were among the injured or dead.
“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” Mamdani posted on X. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”
This was the second high-profile structural problem with a building in New York in the past five months. In July, several buildings in Manhattan were evacuated after support columns buckled inside a skyscraper that was formerly the headquarters of Pfizer.
Rescuers with dogs searched through the night Flatbush Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in Brooklyn, remained at a standstill Thursday morning as firefighters picked through the rubble.
Hundreds of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power saws worked through the night, clambering over the rubble, punching holes in the ruins to pull out dust-covered survivors.
Rescue dogs sniffed piles of twisted wood and brick that were dotted with brightly colored clothing and vinyl record albums. Two excavators removed large chunks of debris. Firefighters filled buckets with debris, passing them down a line.
Heavy rain was forecast for Thursday afternoon, and Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore cautioned that could hinder search-and-rescue operations.
“It'll turn to mud,” she told WNYW-TV, vowing firefighters would work through the rain if necessary.
Much of the collapsed building, comprising apartments sitting atop ground-floor commercial space, wound up in a huge pile inside the adjacent construction pit. Another building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was shorn off, exposing the rooms inside, including a bedroom and closets filled with shoes and clothing.
On Wednesday night, firefighters pulled a pregnant woman from the rubble, hoisted her up on a stretcher and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. Other survivors were rescued as the night wore on, The Associated Press reported.
Bonsignore said the rescue teams were performing “dangerous and perilous” work. “Every move is choreographed,” she said.
