Two Dead and At least 17 Injured, Including Seven Children, in NYC Building Collapse: Desperate search Launched for Survivors Trapped Under Rubble as Mamdani Rushes to Scene
By MELISSA KOENIG (US REPORTER) and EMMA RICHTER (US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER) and LAUREN ACTON-TAYLOR (US NEWS REPORTER)
At least two people were killed, and 17 others were injured – including seven children – when a building collapsed in Brooklyn, as others remain trapped under rubble in what witnesses have called an ‘absolutely devastating’ tragedy.
The three-story residential structure crumbled into an open construction site around 4pm on Wednesday on Bedford Avenue in Flatbush.
Multiple people were left stuck under the rubble, including workers who were on site when the building came crashing down, the FDNY said.
At least two people, including a construction worker, were pronounced dead, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference late Wednesday.
At least 17 others were injured, including seven children and a firefighter. Four are now listed in critical condition, while 12 others are stable.
The firefighter had sustained only minor injuries, officials said.
The victims’ identities and ages have not yet been released.
But the total number of injuries remains unknown as the search efforts are expected to last for days and the cause of the incident is under investigation, FDNY’s Chief of Department John Esposito said.
In the meantime, families have been left worrying about the fate of their loved ones.
‘There was one lady saying her husband’s still in the rubble,’ Reverend Alfred Joseph, the pastor of a church across the street told the New York Post.
‘She was not crying, she was so quiet,’ he recounted.
The structure started to crumble around 4pm on Wednesday on Bedford Avenue in Flatbush
Victims were pulled from the rubble and wheeled away in stretchers at the scene
An NYPD spokesperson told the Daily Mail that five people have been removed from the rubble and taken to Kings County Hospital
More than 250 fire and EMS personnel rushed to the scene, but FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore noted: ‘Collapse operations are extremely dangerous.
‘Every move is choreographed and critically important to patient outcomes and member safety,’ she said Wednesday night, adding that ‘members have been working methodically and haven’t stopped since they arrived this afternoon.’
One individual who was still trapped under the debris was able to communicate with first responders following the collapse, and was removed on a stretcher at around 4.45pm.
A pregnant woman was later also rescued from the rubble.
‘She’s alive. She’s still alive,’ her relieved partner said through tears, noting that she is six weeks pregnant, according to the New York Post.
Video from the scene showed firefighters lifting victims from the debris and onto stretchers. Other images showed clothes hanging in rooms that were exposed from the collapse.
Firefighters were also seen digging through the rubble by hand, as rescuers used dogs to sniff for survivors.
‘It’s devastating. It’s absolutely devastating,’ one resident, Bria, told NewsNation.
A construction worker embraces a child at the scene of a partial building collapse
The New York City Department of Buildings said inspectors are at the scene ‘assisting with recovery operations and conducting structural stability inspections of nearby buildings’
‘I mean, this community is very close-knit, it’s very tight… I’m at a loss for words.’
She went on to tell reporter Marcus Espinoza how she, too, lives in an older building, ‘and I feel that this could have happened to any of us.’
‘You just hope that people are taking care of their properties, and everything is staying up to code so stuff like this doesn’t happen,’ Bria said.
‘We just want safety in our homes.’
But James Williams said he was inside his third floor apartment when the building came down.
‘All I know is I was with the wife and then we just heard some rumbling, the next thing you know, just open the door and happen to see the outside,’ he recounted to 1010 WINS.
He said he later saw a bright light, and then first responders coming to his rescue.
‘Everybody’s traumatized, we all are,’ he said. ‘Because one minute, we’re all just living our normal lives and the next minute, before our eyes, this just happened so suddenly.’
A person is wheeled away on a stretcher after the building collapsed
First responders were seen carrying a victim from the rubble
Firefighters were seen digging through the rubble as they searched for anybody who may be trapped
Outside, Anthony Griggs, 21, said he was walking home from work when he heard ‘two big bangs’ before the building crumbled.
‘A couple of bricks fell by my foot,’ he recounted to the Post. ‘I got hit by one, but it’s OK, I’m OK.’
Anderson Velez, a resident of the collapsed building, also told the Post that he was at work when his wife called, saying his two children, aged seven and two, were trapped under the rubble.
‘She called me when the building collapsed while she was inside with rubble on top of her. She was screaming for someone to help get my son out and then the call cut off,’ he told the outlet.
He later learned that his family had been pulled from the rubble and were alive, Velez said.
About 40 displaced residents, including families with small children and at least one family with a pet dog, have since sought shelter at the nearby YMCA, The New York Times reports.
One man there told the outlet that his third-floor apartment, where he had lived for five years, was destroyed in the building collapse and that he ‘lost everything.’
Firefighters respond to the scene of a building collapse in the Flatbush neighborhood
Firefighters were seen using flashlights as they combed through the dust and debris
‘This was a devastating collapse and we know that it affects the lives of many New Yorkers who live here on Flatbush,’ Mamdani said at the news conference Wednesday night.
‘As we rebuild, the City of New York will stand alongside those impacted at every step of the way.’
The mayor also asked New Yorkers ‘to take a moment to pray for all those who passed away today and all those who are mourning their loss, and for a fast and full recovery for those who are injured.’
Meanwhile, Governor Kathy Hochul said: ‘My heart breaks for the family who lost a loved one in today’s building collapse in Brooklyn. I’m keeping them in my thoughts and praying for everyone affected.’
‘My administration has reached out and offered its full support as authorities investigate what happened,’ she added.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pictured addressing the devastating building collapse on Wednesday night
A separate building that shared a wall with the one that fell remained standing despite some of its walls being torn off, exposing the rooms inside
The building that collapsed had been erected in the 1930s.
It was a mixed-use structure with apartments atop a business on the ground floor, perched on the edge of a lot where another one-story building had been torn down for a construction project.
But it has since been revealed that a contractor was given a violation over activity at the vacant lot adjacent to the collapsed building back in April, after inspectors said the building at the site had been demolished despite a city order to stop all demolition work, according to CBS News.
The violation is now listed as resolved and the violation notice does not state why the city issued a stop order in the first place.
New York City Department of Buildings (DOB) officials said plans have since been approved for the construction of a three-story building at the site, and excavation work was happening prior to the collapse.
‘When that happens at a construction site, when you’re actually digging down very deep into the ground next to an existing building, that can often present a lot of precarious problems of destabilizing an existing building, and if proper precautions aren’t taken, sometimes this is what happens,’ said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
A full stop-work order has now been issued for the site.
Neighbors watched from above as first responders continued to work into the night
A full stop order has been issued for construction on an adjacent lot following the building collapse Wednesday night
Housing, Preservation and Development records obtained by the New York Daily News show that the old building was also subject to 98 open violations – including defective doors, unsafe wiring, leaking ceilings, defective fire retardant material and missing or malfunctioning smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
It is unclear whether the excavation work or the violations had anything to do with the collapse, but a separate building that shared a wall with the one that fell remained standing despite some of its walls being torn off, exposing the rooms inside.
The DOB said inspectors are at the scene ‘assisting with recovery operations and conducting structural stability inspections of nearby buildings.’
Meanwhile, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office is working with the DOB and law enforcement to determine if any criminal conduct may have contributed to the collapse.
In the meantime, emergency personnel are asking the public to avoid the area.
Original source: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16285551/brooklyn-new-york-city-building-collapse-people-trapped.html
