Eight people have been killed and at least 17 injured after a Brooklyn building collapse in Flatbush, New York, sent a three-story apartment building crashing into a neighbouring construction site, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Thursday.
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue came down at about 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday, 11 November, trapping residents and construction workers beneath tonnes of brick, wood and concrete. Firefighters worked through the night, and the search for anyone still trapped was continuing on Thursday morning.
FAKTA
- What: A three-story mixed-use building collapsed in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, 11 November 2026.
- Deaths: At least eight people killed, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Thursday. Two deaths were announced on Wednesday, and the toll rose as more bodies were recovered overnight.
- Injured: At least 17 people injured, including seven children and three firefighters. Four of the injured were in critical condition.
- Where: 1321 Flatbush Avenue, near Bedford Avenue, in Flatbush, Brooklyn. The building fell into an adjacent construction site at 2625 Bedford Avenue, where excavation work was under way.
- Building: A four-unit apartment building dating to 1930, with apartments above a ground-floor shop.
- Rescue: About 250 firefighters and emergency workers at the scene. The search could last several days, and it is not known how many people may still be trapped.
- Cause: Under investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings and law enforcement agencies.
Brooklyn building collapse rescue continues through the night
Fire crews reached the scene within a minute of the first call, and about 250 firefighters and emergency medical workers joined the rescue. Scores of firefighters and police officers clambered over the rubble pile for hours, punching holes through the ruins with pickaxes and power saws to pull dust-covered people from beneath piles of twisted wood and brick.
Rescuers used sniffer dogs to look for survivors, and a drone hovered over the site as firefighters dug by hand. As darkness fell, they used flashlights to light the area where they worked. At about 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, firefighters pulled a woman — still alive and moving — out of a hole they had dug into the rubble pile and rushed her to a waiting ambulance. At least four survivors were pulled from the wreckage about two to two and a half hours after the collapse, including a pregnant woman.
“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” Mamdani wrote on social media. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”
At a news conference on Wednesday, the mayor described the operation as “an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface”, adding: “This type of rescue is exactly what the FDNY trains for.”
Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the rescue teams were performing “dangerous and perilous” work. “Every move is choreographed,” she said.
What caused the collapse?
The cause of the collapse remained under investigation on Thursday. The city’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, noted that when the building fell, construction workers were excavating an empty lot next door for a new building. The city’s Department of Buildings and law enforcement agencies are leading the investigation into what caused the collapse.
Much of the rubble from the collapsed building wound up in a huge pile inside the construction pit. Another building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was shorn off, exposing the rooms inside, including a bedroom and closets filled with clothing.
Fire Chief John Esposito warned that the site remained unstable. “It’s a very unstable situation. The adjoining building that remains partially intact is always a danger, where the main concern is a secondary collapse,” he said. “We’ve taken measures to keep an eye on that and try to ensure that there is no further collapse.”
Families wait for news
Officials said they did not know how many people were in the building or at the construction site when it fell, and warned the death toll could rise further. Seven children were among the casualties, authorities said, without specifying whether any were among the dead.
One resident, Anderson Velez, told the New York Post he was at work when his wife called to say she and their two children, aged 7 and 2, were trapped in the wreckage. He later learned his family had been pulled from the rubble alive.
The Red Cross registered 12 adults and three children from six households affected by the collapse, and set up a help centre for displaced residents. New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the state would offer its full support to the investigation.
Heavy rain was forecast for the area on Thursday afternoon, with temperatures expected to fall sharply by Friday night, adding to the difficulty of the search.
Read more in our America coverage, and the full story here: Eight Killed in Brooklyn Building Collapse as Rescuers Search Rubble.
