Brooklyn collapse kills eight as city orders site sweeps

New York City rescuers ended their Brooklyn collapse search Thursday after eight deaths, while officials ordered checks at linked sites.

Two children were among those killed, officials said, and another 18 people suffered injuries. The New York City Fire Department announced shortly before 3:40 p.m. Thursday that its search was complete and nobody remained to be recovered.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city would investigate the collapsed property and an adjacent excavation project. He also announced inspections across roughly 100 construction locations associated with companies involved in that neighboring project, extending the response beyond the immediate disaster site.

Children and construction workers among dead

The three-story property at 1321 Flatbush Ave. fell around 4 p.m. Wednesday, according to officials. A street-level business occupied the bottom floor, with apartments on the two floors above.

Mamdani said six victims died at the location and two subsequently died in hospital. The six adults killed included two people employed in construction; the supplied account did not identify the victims or their employers.

Officials divided the injured into 14 civilians and four firefighters, with one person reported to be in critical condition. Mamdani said he had visited hospitalized survivors before addressing reporters near the wreckage.

Search ends after rain complicates operations

Firefighters spent close to a full day searching the wreckage before announcing the operation had ended. Earlier Thursday, FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said teams would continue until they were certain nobody remained trapped.

Bonsignore described large pieces of debris as an obstacle to reaching and checking the ground beneath the structure. Officials said they intended to deploy heavier excavation machinery Thursday to help reach areas that rescuers had not yet been able to search.

Rain added another difficulty during the operation, Bonsignore said, although she stressed that crews would keep working. Her earlier comments described an active rescue effort; the department’s afternoon announcement subsequently closed that phase of the response.

Excavation inquiry extends to linked sites

The neighboring excavation occupied a plot where a one-story structure had been removed. The cause of the apartment building’s collapse had not been established, and proximity to that work did not establish responsibility.

Mamdani said five principal entities were associated with the excavation project and that their crews operated at approximately 100 construction locations throughout the city. He said the Department of Buildings was beginning inspections of those locations, alongside a comprehensive inquiry into the collapsed building and neighboring worksite.

The emergency also disrupted utilities and access for surrounding residents. A Thursday statement from the city’s environmental agency said water service affecting 100 nearby buildings had been shut off to support rescue work.

Some evacuated residents were permitted to return, but three buildings remained subject to orders barring occupancy. Mamdani said five bus routes had been diverted, while Flatbush Avenue remained closed to traffic between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue.

The mayor committed to making the investigation’s findings public. With the rescue operation finished, the unresolved issues include the cause of the failure, the results of inspections at linked construction sites and when remaining displaced residents can safely return.