8 dead in Brooklyn building collapse

A pair of excavators scooped up rubble Thursday where a three-story apartment building in Brooklyn collapsed at the edge of a construction site, killing at least eight people, New York City’s mayor said.

Emergency workers spent the early morning peering into crevices and sifting through debris during a desperate search for survivors. Crews pulled out victims and at least one survivor overnight. At least 17 people were injured, including three firefighters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

It’s not clear whether any others remain trapped late Thursday morning. 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.

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.

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.

Building records showed there were four apartments on the upper two floors and a commercial unit on the ground floor of the collapsed building. 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.

New York City’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said Wednesday that construction workers were excavating the empty lot next door when the building buckled. The city’s Department of Buildings is investigating what caused the collapse.


(AP Photo Yuki Iwamura)