Two Die and 17 Are Injured in Brooklyn Building Collapse

Two people died and 17 others were hospitalized when a three-story building collapsed in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, sending rescue crews scrambling through unstable wreckage at the edge of a construction site.

Scores of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power saws climbed over the rubble pile for hours after the collapse, punching holes through the ruins to reach people trapped beneath twisted wood and brick. Among the 17 injured, four were listed in critical condition following the disaster, according to officials who spoke at a news conference.

At least 1 person dead, 4 injured after a building collapse in Brooklyn — NBC News

New York City Fire Department officials said their search and rescue operations would continue through the night as crews worked to determine whether anyone else remained trapped beneath the surface. The fallen structure was a mixed-use building featuring apartments sitting directly atop a ground-floor commercial space.

“This has been an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, adding that “this type of rescue is exactly what the FDNY trains for.”

Two Die and 17 Are Injured in Brooklyn Building Collapse

The cause of the collapse remains under investigation, but New York City’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, said that construction workers were excavating an empty lot next door for a new building when the structure fell. Much of the rubble from the collapsed building ultimately spilled into a huge pile inside the construction pit.

Another building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, though its wall was shorn off, exposing interior rooms including a bedroom and closets filled with clothing. About 250 firefighters deployed to the scene, according to Mamdani.

Brooklyn building collapse: 2 dead, 17 injured l FULL — FOX 5 New York

At around 6:30 p.m., rescue workers pulled a woman alive and moving out of a hole they had dug into the rubble pile, hoisting her onto a stretcher and rushing her to a waiting ambulance. Additional survivors were pulled from beneath the pile as the night progressed, while authorities confirmed that seven of the casualties were children, though they did not specify whether any children were among the dead.

A drone hovered over the site as firefighters dug by hand, tossing chunks of rubble aside while rescue dogs sniffed for signs of life. As darkness fell, responders illuminated the work area with flashlights.

Brooklyn building collapse: 1 dead, several injured in Flatbush, NY — Eyewitness News ABC7NY

FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore described the rescue effort as dangerous and perilous work where every move is choreographed. One firefighter sustained minor injuries during the operations.

Phone and email messages seeking comment were left with the architect, property owner, and general contractor listed in city records as being associated with the construction project.

York fire department station with fire trucks and fire engine

Anderson Velez, a resident of the collapsed building, told the New York Post that he was at work when his wife called to say she and their two children, ages 7 and 2, were trapped in the wreckage.

“She called me when the building collapsed while she was inside with rubble on top of her. She was screaming for someone to help get my son out and then the call cut off,” Velez said. He later learned that his family had been pulled from the rubble alive.