Brooklyn Building Collapse Kills Eight as Probe Widens

New York (GNP): Eight people, including two children, have been killed and 18 others injured after a three-story building collapsed in Brooklyn. Debris fell into an adjoining construction site and set off a major rescue operation.

The building came down on Wednesday afternoon in the Flatbush neighborhood, where workers were carrying out excavation at the neighboring site. Part of the structure fell into the construction pit.

Witnesses said they heard a powerful, explosion-like bang before dust filled the street. One of them had delivered a package to an apartment in the building only minutes earlier. Another resident said the boom was followed by screaming.

Fire crews reached the scene within minutes and closed the surrounding streets. More than 250 firefighters joined the response, searching the rubble for people trapped beneath it.

Rescue work continued through the night and was called off on Thursday, about 24 hours after the collapse. Fire officials said they had determined that no more victims remained at the site.

The building, at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, was constructed in the 1930s and housed residential apartments and a shop. The adjoining site had approval for a new development with 64 residential units and a grocery store on the ground floor.

Officials say it is still unclear whether the work next door contributed to the collapse. Authorities have launched an investigation and have not ruled out criminal charges.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office is working with the city’s Department of Buildings and law enforcement partners. Investigators are trying to establish whether any criminal conduct played a role.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said every organization and individual connected to the collapsed building and the neighboring project will be investigated. Anyone found to have done wrong, he said, will be held accountable.

Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said no building-code violations had been reported at the property before the collapse. He added that the developer is linked to at least 100 other sites across New York, and that those sites are also being examined.

The human toll became clearer as officials confirmed the victims. Six adults and two children died, and two of the dead were construction workers. Six people died at the scene, while two others died later in hospital.

The victims were identified as Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9; Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10; Barry Mamadou, 23; Ndiaye Mamadou, 31; Gabriel Siguencia, 22; Edgar Sapon, 26; and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26.

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Four firefighters were among the 18 injured, and one person remains in critical condition. Mamdani described those killed as neighbors, parents and children, including young families who came to New York to build new lives. They included immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and other countries. The consul general of Ecuador confirmed that two of the victims were Ecuadorian nationals.

Amid the loss, there was one moment of relief. The husband of a pregnant woman pulled from the wreckage said she had survived. She is six months pregnant.

The site has now been handed over to the Department of Buildings and the police as investigators work to determine what caused the collapse.

Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore praised the firefighters’ response as “incredibly heroic,” and Mamdani said workers who narrowly escaped “turned back and dug victims out of the rubble.”