NEW YORK — Eight people were dead and at least 19 injured after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed into an adjacent construction site Wednesday, according to the New York City fire department.
Several people were trapped beneath the rubble as a rescue operation continued, city Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said in a news conference late Wednesday, adding: “We do not know how many people are still in the collapse zone, and this will be a prolonged operation.”
Three firefighters were among the injured, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. Bonsignore said the victims included seven children but did not say whether any of them were among the dead.
The remnants of people’s lives were visible Thursday in what remained of a next-door building, whose walls were partly sheared off. Pink sheets and a pile of clothes covered a bed, and clothing closets were visible nearby.
More than 250 emergency responders, including fire, medical and police workers, responded to the scene on Flatbush Avenue after the alarm was raised just after 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Four people were in critical condition, five had serious but non-life-threatening injuries, and 10 had minor injuries as of Thursday morning, the fire department said in a statement.
The cause of the collapse is under investigation.
“This has been an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface,” Mamdani said at the news conference.
Construction workers were at the site at the time of the collapse, officials said. Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of the city’s Department of Buildings, said they had been engaged in excavation work Wednesday.
Rescuers used pickaxes and power saws to make their way through the rubble Wednesday, according to photos from the scene and local media reports. Fire and police dogs were also deployed.
Fire Chief John Esposito said rescue operations were taking place amid an “unstable” situation with concerns about a secondary collapse. He said his teams would stay for several days until the “entire site is searched for all … potential victims.”
Video footage showed survivors being pulled from the wreckage. One woman’s husband told ABC7 that she was six months pregnant and that he was very happy she had been found alive.
Authorities shut down city water mains early Thursday to allow emergency responders to continue working, affecting around 100 buildings.
The collapsed building has been cited for 11 violations of the city’s housing and maintenance code this year, according to the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. In April, the property received a citation for inadequate water supply to the building’s sprinkler system. The property was also instructed to repair a roof leak and exposed electrical wiring that same month.
In total, the property has 25 open violations that the city classifies as hazardous or immediately hazardous.
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office was “working closely” with the Department of Buildings and law enforcement “to determine whether any criminal conduct contributed to this tragedy.”
The construction site had a plan approved for a three-story building, Tigani said. He said further plans for a nine-story building had been filed but not yet approved.
A stop-work order was issued for the construction site Wednesday, according to the New York City Department of Buildings.
Victoria Bisset contributed to this report.
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