New York: Brooklyn Building Collapse Kills 8, Injures 18 in Flatbush; Rescue Ends as Cause Probe Begins

A three-storey building in Flatbush, Brooklyn, collapsed at about 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday, November 11, falling into an excavation pit at the construction site next door. The death toll rose to at least eight on Thursday morning (November 12), with 18 others injured, including four firefighters. The fire department ended rescue operations on Thursday after the last victim was freed from the wreckage, and the investigation now turns to the cause of the collapse.

What happened

The collapsed building, at 1321 Flatbush Avenue near Newkirk Avenue, was a mixed-use structure dating from 1930 with four residential units. It fell into the excavation pit at 2625 Bedford Avenue, where digging work was under way for a new building.

The Fire Department of New York said the first emergency call came at 4:01 p.m. A fire crew returning from another incident arrived within a minute and began search and rescue. The department declared a major technical rescue, deploying search dogs and drones.

Casualties and rescue

Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said that as of 7 a.m. on Thursday, 25 patients had been found at the scene, including six people who died; four were in critical condition, five seriously injured and 10 with minor injuries. Seven of the victims were children. Mayor Zohran Mamdani visited the site on Wednesday evening and said at a news conference at about 8 p.m. that at least two people had been killed and more than 10 taken to hospital.

Rescuers pulled several survivors alive from the rubble, including a woman about six weeks pregnant and a mother with her two young children, aged 7 and 2. The fire department said the search could take days because the site is unstable, and it does not yet know how many people are missing. Flatbush Avenue is closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue, and the city's Emergency Management agency set up a reception centre for affected residents at the Flatbush YMCA.

Cause under investigation

The cause of the collapse has not been determined. Investigators from the Department of Buildings were at the scene, examining the condition of the collapsed building and whether the excavation work next door played a role. Officials warned the casualty figures may still change as the search continues.

Update, November 12

Early on Thursday, rescuers pulled more bodies from the rubble: the Associated Press reported three more bodies had been recovered overnight, and ABC7 said a sixth victim's body was removed just after 6:30 a.m. Two more people later died in hospital, bringing the death toll to at least eight, Mayor Mamdani said on Thursday. The injured include three firefighters and seven children, and at least eight households have been displaced. Fire crews are racing to finish the search ahead of an approaching storm, and officials say they still do not know how many people are missing, so the toll may change again. City records show violations at the neighbouring construction project in May; the cause of the collapse remains under investigation. (Sources: Associated Press, ABC7, New York Post, Mayor's Office) The Associated Press later confirmed the eight dead included six adults and two children, two of them construction workers; one of the dead was identified as 26-year-old construction worker Jose Luis Caguana.

Update, November 12 evening: mayor widens the investigation

Mayor Mamdani said on Thursday that the city will examine five companies associated with the construction site adjacent to the collapse and 100 more sites connected with those entities. Rescue teams worked through torrential rain on Thursday searching for victims still buried in the rubble. According to official records, the collapsed building was built in 1930 and had four residential units, home to several immigrant families. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation. (Source: Reuters.)

Late update, November 12: rescue ends; two children among the dead

The fire department ended rescue operations on Thursday after the last victim was freed from the wreckage. Mayor Mamdani said two children were among the eight killed and 18 others were injured, including four firefighters, and the city will inspect about 100 building sites involving companies related to the project. The cause of the collapse has not been determined; a construction safety expert said it is far too early to know, and it could be a design flaw, a construction flaw, or a failure of the excavation shoring. The neighbouring site was issued a stop-work order in March after inspectors found demolition proceeding without adequate overhead protection, and in April work was found to have resumed in violation of the order. The victims came from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Trinidad, and two of the dead were construction workers. (Source: The Associated Press.)

Update, November 13: criminal inquiry opened; all eight victims identified

The Brooklyn district attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation into whether criminal conduct contributed to the collapse, The New York Times reported on Friday. No charges have been filed, and an investigation is not a finding of wrongdoing. Police on Thursday night released the names of all eight victims, including two children — Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, and Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10 — and six adults aged 22 to 31, two of them construction workers. Six people died at the scene and two died in hospital; at least four of the 18 injured remained in critical condition. The cause of the collapse is still under investigation. (Sources: Associated Press; The New York Times; WABC.)

November 13 update: Buildings Dept. blamed unsafe work next door, then retracted the finding

The Department of Buildings initially said in a written notice that unsafe construction operations at the adjacent site at 2625 Bedford Ave. caused the collapse, then retracted that finding; the formal cause remains under investigation. Two of the eight people killed were workers at the neighbouring construction site. The Fire Department ended its search at 3:37 p.m. on Thursday, confirming no more victims were in the rubble. The department has issued a full stop-work order for the adjacent site and full vacate orders for 1323, 1325 and 1327 Flatbush Ave. (Sources: New York City Department of Buildings; The New York Times; Associated Press.)

Update, November 13: Brooklyn DA opens criminal investigation; all eight victims identified

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office has opened a criminal investigation into the collapse to determine whether criminal conduct contributed to it, The New York Times reported on Friday; no criminal responsibility has been established. Police on Thursday night released the names of all eight victims: Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9; Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10; Gabriel Siguencia, 22; Barry Mamadou, 23; Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26; Edgar Sapon, 26; Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; and Ndiaye Mamadou, 31. Two of the dead were construction workers at the neighbouring site; both children were Colombian. The mayor has ordered inspections at about 100 sites linked to the companies involved, and the cause of the collapse remains under investigation.