“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted on X.
At least eight people died after a three-storey building collapsed at the edge of a construction site in Brooklyn, with firefighters continuing to dig through the rubble for others who may be trapped, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Two children were among the dead, and at least 18 people were injured, including four firefighters, Mamdani said on Thursday.
Rescue workers have spent the night searching the site of yesterday’s building collapse, working under extremely dangerous conditions to find and save anyone who may still be trapped. I am heartbroken that eight New Yorkers have now lost their lives and at least 17 have been…
The building gave way at about 4 pm on Wednesday in the Flatbush area while construction workers were digging at a neighbouring lot, according to a city official. The cause of the collapse remained under investigation. Emergency workers spent the early morning sifting through debris during a search for survivors as torrential rain drenched the area.
“Conditions will get more challenging today with the rain, but operations will continue,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. Among those killed and injured were people from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Trinidad. Two of the dead were construction workers, he said, while thanking survivors who joined firefighters in the rescue efforts.
New York Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said crews had not shifted from rescue to recovery. “We are still in the search and rescue phase,” Bonsignore said. “We always assume there are more people there until we can access the ground.”
Mamdani ordered safety inspections at about 100 building sites tied to the companies involved in the project. City records showed the collapsed building contained four apartments on the upper two floors and a commercial unit on the ground floor.
New York City’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said that construction workers were excavating the empty lot next door when the structure buckled. City officials said that a stop-work order was issued in March after inspectors found demolition work proceeding without adequate overhead protection for neighbouring properties.
Although inspectors discovered work had resumed in violation of the order in April, city officials allowed work to continue in May after the violations were corrected.
Flatbush Avenue remained at a standstill as emergency crews worked through the night using pickaxes, power saws, and rescue dogs. The incident marked the second high-profile structural failure involving a New York building in five months, following the evacuation of several Manhattan buildings in July after support columns buckled inside the former Pfizer headquarters.
Earlier coverage: Brooklyn Building Collapse Kills Two and Leaves Many Trapped
