Inside the Frantic Search for Survivors After Brooklyn Building Collapse
Collapse Leaves Rubble Behind
The apartment building fell into a hole beside a construction site on a Brooklyn street Wednesday afternoon. The collapse exposed part of an apartment, with clothes still hanging in a closet.
A refrigerator lay on its side among broken furniture and other household remnants. Some construction-site structures, including a portable toilet and an office, remained standing, while workers were missing.
Death Toll And Injuries
Rescuers found one person’s body soon after the collapse. By Thursday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said eight people had been killed, among them two children, and 18 people had been injured.
Medical workers waited on nearby streets to transport people who were hurt or killed. One woman learned that her husband, a construction worker, was among those who died.
Rescue Teams Search Overnight
Hundreds of firefighters and emergency workers searched a large mound of debris through the night and into the morning in Flatbush. Relatives and friends of missing people waited nearby, exhausted and hoping for updates.
Police vehicles, ambulances and fire trucks lit the area with red and blue lights. Canine teams, drones and helicopters joined firefighters carrying axes and pickaxes, while specialized vehicles and bulldozers moved through the wreckage.
Key points
- The apartment building collapsed beside a deep construction-site excavation in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon.
- Mayor Zohran Mamdani reported eight deaths, including two children, and 18 injuries.
- Hundreds of emergency workers searched the Flatbush rubble overnight and into Thursday.
- Relatives and friends of missing people waited near the site for news.