The New York City Fire Department says the death toll from a three-storey Brooklyn building collapse has risen to five as rescuers continue searching rubble.
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Firefighters removed the bodies of three more people from a collapsed three-storey building in Brooklyn early Thursday, bringing the confirmed death toll to five as crews continued digging for others who may be trapped under the wreckage.
The building collapsed Wednesday afternoon at the edge of a construction site near an excavation of an empty lot next door. At least 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, including four in critical condition.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the rescue effort was “an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface,” adding that “This type of rescue is exactly what the FDNY trains for.”
New York City’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said the cause of the collapse is under investigation and noted that construction workers were excavating the nearby lot when the building fell.
Authorities said the mixed-use structure had apartments above ground-floor commercial space, and that much of the rubble ended up in a large pile inside the construction pit. Another building that had shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was shorn off, exposing rooms inside.
During the overnight effort, rescues teams used dogs to sniff for survivors and used pickaxes and power saws to create access points through the rubble. FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the work involved “dangerous and perilous” conditions, and that “Every move is choreographed.”
Mamdani said about 250 firefighters were working the scene. Fire officials said one firefighter suffered minor injuries. Authorities said seven of the casualties were children.
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