Firefighters were called to a collapse in Brooklyn’s Flatbush area around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, killing at least two people and trapping others in the rubble.
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Firefighters dug through the rubble of a three-storey building in Brooklyn after it collapsed at the edge of a construction site on Wednesday, killing at least two people and trapping others beneath the wreckage.
Officials said firefighters were called to the Flatbush section around 4 p.m., and that two people died while at least four others were rushed to a hospital in critical condition. Six additional people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries.
Around 6:30 p.m., firefighters pulled a dust-covered person who was still alive and moving from a hole they had dug into the rubble pile, hoisting the person onto a stretcher and rushing them to a waiting ambulance.
The building that collapsed had been perched at the edge of a lot where another one-storey building had been torn down for a construction project. The site was being excavated, and the building filled the construction pit with bricks and wood.
A nearby building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was shorn off, exposing rooms inside including a bedroom and closets filled with clothing.
Rescuers used tools and dogs to search for survivors, with at least one drone hovering over the site as firefighters dug by hand and tossed chunks of rubble aside. As darkness fell, firefighters used flashlights to illuminate the area where they worked.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement posted on social media, “As emergency operations continue, please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts.”
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