Brooklyn apartment building collapse kills 8, including 2 children

A three-story residential building collapsed on Wednesday in Brooklyn, New York, next to a construction site, killing at least eight people, including two children, and injuring 18 others, among them four firefighters, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Emergency workers spent the early hours of Thursday searching cracks and voids in the debris for survivors, while two excavators removed large sections of rubble. Mamdani said the cause of the collapse remains under investigation, noting that excavation work was underway at an adjacent lot at the time of the incident, according to a city official.

Heavy rain in the area made search operations more difficult, but Mamdani stressed that efforts would continue despite the weather, saying: "Conditions will become more challenging today due to the rain, but operations will go on."

New York Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said rescue teams continued searching for survivors through Thursday afternoon, emphasizing that the operation was still in the search-and-rescue phase. She added: "We always assume there are more people under the rubble until we can reach the ground."

Eyewitnesses described the initial moments of the collapse. James Williams, who works at a shop across from the building, said he heard loud banging throughout Wednesday before seeing bricks fall and the building collapse two minutes later. Hairdresser Brigitte Anama reported seeing emergency workers pull people from the debris, including a child, as bystanders repeated: "Pray for the child."

Authorities announced late Wednesday that at least seven children were among the dead and injured. Mamdani wrote on X: "There are no words to describe a loss of this magnitude. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost, the injured, and everyone grieving today."

This incident marks the second major structural issue involving buildings in New York City in the past five months. In July, several buildings in Manhattan were evacuated after support columns buckled in a former Pfizer skyscraper.

Hundreds of firefighters and police officers continued searching through the night on Flatbush Avenue, one of Brooklyn's busiest thoroughfares, using axes, power saws, and trained search dogs to comb the debris and rescue survivors. Firefighters also cleared rubble by hand in a human chain to secure the site.

Records show the collapsed building contained four residential apartments on the upper floors and a commercial unit on the ground floor. The neighboring building, which shared a wall with the collapsed structure, remained standing despite part of its wall collapsing and exposing its interior rooms.

On Wednesday evening, firefighters rescued a pregnant woman from the rubble and transported her to an ambulance, while search efforts for survivors continued into Thursday morning. Bonsignore described the rescue operations as "dangerous and grueling work," stressing that every move was carefully planned and coordinated.