Children Among Eight Killed in NYC Apartment Building Collapse

A routine afternoon in Brooklyn turned catastrophic when a three-storey apartment building suddenly gave way, collapsing into a neighbouring construction site and killing eight people, including two children, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

At least 17 others were injured — among them three firefighters — as search and rescue operations pressed on, Mr Mamdani said.

The city’s fire department had earlier reported that four people were in critical condition after the 1930-era building in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn collapsed at about 4pm (9pm Irish time) yesterday, spilling into the adjoining site where excavation work was taking place.

WABC-TV said at least four survivors were pulled from the rubble several hours after the collapse, including a pregnant woman.

Investigations are under way into the collapse

Officials said it was not immediately clear how many residents were inside when the building came down. They also did not say how many workers were on the construction site at the time.

City Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said seven children were among those affected by the collapse, but she declined to say whether those who died were children or adults.

Mr Mamdani said the city’s Department of Buildings and law enforcement officials were investigating what caused the collapse.

Authorities told reporters at an evening press conference yesterday that a firefighting crew already in the neighbourhood reached the scene within a minute and helped pull the first victims from the debris.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation

Local television footage showed rescuers working with search dogs over the mangled remains of the building, clearing debris in buckets as they searched for any sign of people who may have been trapped in voids beneath the wreckage.

John Esposito, the city’s fire department chief, said teams expected the search of the entire site to take several days. “We do not know how many people are missing overall,” he said.

The fire department said about 250 fire and emergency medical services personnel were sent to the scene.

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