Firefighters in Brooklyn dug through rubble after a three-storey building collapsed near a construction site, killing at least two people and hospitalizing 17 others.
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A three-storey building collapsed in Brooklyn near the edge of a construction site on Wednesday afternoon, and firefighters spent hours working through the wreckage to pull people from beneath twisted wood and brick.
New York City Fire Department officials said their search and rescue operations continued into the night, while it remained unclear whether anyone else might still be trapped.
Officials said at least 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, including four in critical condition. Seven of the casualties were children, though authorities did not specify whether any were among the dead.
About 250 firefighters were working at the scene, with police officers and firefighters using pickaxes, power saws and hand digging to reach people in voids beneath the rubble. Rescuers also used dogs to search for survivors, and drones and flashlights were used as they worked in the dark.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the situation involved “precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface,” adding that “This type of rescue is exactly what the FDNY trains for.” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said teams were carrying out “dangerous and perilous” work and that “Every move is choreographed.”
At around 6:30 p.m., firefighters pulled a woman from a hole they had dug into the rubble pile while she was still alive and moving, then put her on a stretcher and rushed her to an ambulance. Additional people were later pulled from beneath the pile as rescuers continued their work.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation. The city’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said that when the building fell, construction workers were excavating an empty lot next door for a new building.
The collapsed structure, described as a mixed-use building with apartments over ground-floor commercial space, left much of its rubble inside the construction pit. Another building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, though its wall was shorn off and rooms inside were exposed, including a bedroom and closets filled with clothing.
Phone and email messages seeking comment were left with the architect, property owner and general contractor listed in city records as being associated with the construction project. Fire officials said one firefighter suffered minor injuries.
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