Building collapse in Brooklyn: eight dead, at least 17 injured
Updated 8:05 a.m.: The death toll has risen to eight: six bodies were pulled from the rubble overnight and two more people died after being taken to a hospital, Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed this morning. At least 17 people were injured — including seven children and three firefighters — and the search for survivors continues, with officials warning the toll could still rise.
Updated 7:30 a.m.: The Fire Department confirmed to USA TODAY that five people were killed and 19 injured. Of the injured, 17 were taken to hospitals — four in critical condition, including seven children — and a firefighter suffered minor injuries, according to the Associated Press and the New York Post. The search for survivors continued on Thursday morning.
Updated 7:05 a.m.: The death toll has risen to at least five: the fourth and fifth victims were found minutes apart just after 6:00 a.m., according to the New York Post. At least 19 people were injured — four critically — including seven children, and the search for survivors continues.
Updated 6:35 a.m.: The death toll has risen to at least four, confirmed early Thursday morning, according to the New York Post and The Sun citing the Associated Press, as rescuers keep searching for possible survivors in the rubble. At least 17 people were injured — four critically — including seven children, and officials warn more people may still be trapped.
Updated 8:40 p.m.: The FDNY confirmed at a press conference tonight that the death toll has risen to two, with at least 17 people injured, four of them critically, including seven children and a firefighter, according to NBC New York. The search continued into the night, and officials did not rule out that people could still be trapped in the rubble.
Updated 7:35 p.m.: Rescuers pulled two people alive from the rubble during the night, according to WABC footage cited by Reuters. One of them is believed to be a woman six months pregnant, according to a relative at the scene. The search continued into the night.
Updated 7:05 p.m.: The Fire Department raised the number of injured to at least 12 and confirmed one person was still trapped in the rubble, according to CNN and ABC News. A child was among the injured, Council Member Farah Louis said, and the Red Cross opened a help center for affected residents.
Updated 6:35 p.m.: A Fire Department official told CNN that 10 people have now been injured, four of them seriously, and that one person was still trapped in the rubble. Firefighters continued the search into the night.
Updated 6:05 p.m.: New York police confirmed the first death from the collapse: one person died at the scene and at least two others are in critical condition, according to NBC New York and CNN. Firefighters continued searching through the rubble into the evening, with several injured people taken to hospitals.
A three-story building partially collapsed on Wednesday afternoon in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, leaving several people trapped under the rubble, according to the New York City Fire Department (FDNY).
The collapse was reported at around 4:00 p.m. on Bedford Avenue, between Newkirk and Flatbush, in a mostly residential area. Firefighters pulled two people from the rubble and kept searching for two others reported missing, according to NBC New York.
Video from the scene shows rescuers carrying a victim on a stretcher out of a mountain of debris, while drones and flashlights supported the search as daylight faded. The Office of Emergency Management asked New Yorkers to avoid the area because of street closures and traffic.
The building, with a business on the ground floor, stands next to a site where demolition work was underway. The Department of Buildings commissioner and investigators were headed to the scene to assess the damage. The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined, and the rescue operation continued into the evening.
Photo: CNN
Source: CNN