On a Wednesday afternoon in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a three-story apartment building of about a century's age gave way and slid into the excavation pit beside it, a reminder of how quickly the ordinary structures of city life can fail when the ground beneath them is disturbed. Neighbors, passing firefighters, and rescuers answered the sudden loss with their hands before any official word arrived, and as night fell the city was still digging through the debris for those who might yet be found. What caused the collapse, and how many people remain beneath the rubble, are questions the city has not ye
Brooklyn Apartment Building Collapse Kills at Least Two, Injures More Than 10 Including Seven Children
Two people were killed and at least 19 were injured, seven of them children, while the number of missing remains unknown.
We do not know how many people are missing overall.
Mark
Start with the basics. What do we actually know about what happened?
Mimi
A three-story, four-unit building from 1930 collapsed in Flatbush around 4 p.m. Wednesday, falling into a neighboring construction site where excavation was underway. At least two people are dead.
Mark
And the injured?
Mimi
Officials count 19 known victims, seven of them children, plus a firefighter with minor injuries. More than ten went to hospitals, some critically.
Luke
Careful with that 19. The commissioner called it known victims, and she didn't break it down into dead and injured. The mayor said at least two killed. So the floor is two, and the ceiling is unknown.
Mark
Why did rescuers get there so fast?
Mimi
A fire crew happened to be in the area and arrived within a minute. They helped pull out the first victims.
Mark
Survivors were found hours later too?
Mimi
WABC-TV reported at least four were pulled out two to two and a half hours in, including a pregnant woman. That's a local station's account, though.
Luke
Right, it's attributed to a TV report, not confirmed in the officials' remarks we have. And the biggest gap is the missing. Esposito said plainly they don't know how many are missing.
Mark
Is the excavation the cause?
Luke
Nobody has said so. Officials only said the building fell into the site and the cause is under investigation. Proximity isn't a finding.
Mimi
And the search will take several days, so the numbers will likely change.
El Pulso
- A four-unit building from 1930 fell into an active construction site at about 4 p.m., and the city was thrown into an emergency response before the cause was even known.
- A firefighting crew nearby reached the wreckage within a minute, pulling victims from the rubble while the full scale of the disaster was still coming into view.
- Officials count 19 known victims, seven of them children, and two people are confirmed dead, with the number of missing still unknown.
- Rescue teams with search dogs are passing debris out by bucket, expecting the search to stretch across several days as the investigation into the collapse only begins.
On a Wednesday afternoon in Flatbush, Brooklyn, a three-story apartment building of about a century's age gave way and slid into the excavation pit beside it, a reminder of how quickly the ordinary structures of city life can fail when the ground beneath them is disturbed. Neighbors, passing firefighters, and rescuers answered the sudden loss with their hands before any official word arrived, and as night fell the city was still digging through the debris for those who might yet be found. What caused the collapse, and how many people remain beneath the rubble, are questions the city has not yet been able to answer.
At about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a three-story apartment building in Flatbush, Brooklyn, came down and fell into a construction site next to it, where excavation work was underway. By evening, city officials said at least two people were dead and more than ten had been taken to hospitals. The building, which held four units and dated from 1930, had no answers yet offered for its fall.
The response began almost at once. A firefighting crew that happened to be nearby reached the scene within a minute and helped pull the first victims from the debris. Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore put the number of known victims at 19, seven of them children, and a firefighter was also hurt. Local footage showed rescuers with search dogs working across the ruins, passing debris out in buckets and listening for anyone trapped in the voids beneath. Among the survivors pulled out about two hours after the collapse was a pregnant woman.
Fire Department Chief John Esposito was candid about what remains unknown. Officials do not yet know how many people were home when the building fell, how many workers were on the site, or how many are still missing. Rescue teams expect the search of the whole area to take several days, and the cause of the collapse is under investigation.
At about 4 p.m. on Wednesday, a three-story apartment building in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn came down and fell into the adjoining construction site next to it. Excavation work was underway on that lot. By the evening, New York City officials said at least two people were dead and more than ten had been taken to hospitals.
The building held four units and dated from 1930. John Esposito, the city's fire department chief, said the cause was under investigation. Officials did not say how many people were home when it fell, and they gave no figure for how many workers were on the construction site at that moment.
The first response was almost immediate. A firefighting crew that happened to be in the neighborhood reached the scene within a minute of the collapse and helped pull the first victims from the debris, authorities told reporters at an evening press conference.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at least two people had been killed and that more than 10 others were taken to local hospitals, with injuries ranging from critical to non-life-threatening. Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore put the overall number of known victims at 19, seven of them children. She declined to say whether the two people who died were children or adults. A firefighter also suffered minor injuries, she said.
The fire department's early tally, issued before the first two survivors were freed, was four people critically injured and six with minor injuries. The count has since grown.
Rescue work continued into the evening. Local television footage showed rescuers with search dogs working across the ruins, passing debris out in buckets and looking for signs of anyone trapped in voids beneath the wreckage. WABC-TV reported that at least four survivors were pulled out about two to two and a half hours after the collapse, among them a pregnant woman.
Esposito was direct about what remains unknown. He said it would take rescue teams several days to search the whole site for all potential victims, and added that officials do not know how many people are missing overall.
That leaves the story open on several points: the final death toll, the number still unaccounted for, and what caused a building beside an active excavation to fall. The search of the rubble is expected to continue for days, and the investigation into the cause is only beginning.
Citas Notables
We do not know how many people are missing overall.— John Esposito, New York City fire department chief
At least two people were killed and more than 10 others were taken to hospitals with critical and non-life-threatening injuries.— Mayor Zohran Mamdani (paraphrased)
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