At least two people were killed and 17 others injured on Wednesday in Brooklyn after one building collapsed and a second sustained severe structural damage, according to authorities.
The incident took place shortly after 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time at a three-story structure located on Flatbush Avenue near Bedford Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood.
The New York City Police Department confirmed that the building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue suffered a complete collapse, while the adjacent structure at 1323 Flatbush Avenue had a portion of its exterior wall torn away as a result. Photographs and video footage captured from the scene revealed the exposed interiors of stairwells and residential units within the neighboring building. The cause of the collapse remains under active investigation.
The lot situated adjacent to the two affected buildings was vacant and undergoing construction at the time. Officials confirmed that multiple individuals from both the collapsed building and the nearby construction site were trapped beneath the debris.
More than 250 firefighters and emergency medical personnel were deployed to the scene. New York City Fire Department Chief of Department John Esposito stated that a fire company already operating in the vicinity arrived at the location in under one minute following the collapse.
“They encountered people trapped in the adjacent building that was part of the collapse. They immediately took action and removed those people from danger,” Esposito said.
Two fatalities were confirmed, and at least 17 individuals sustained injuries, among them seven children. FDNY officials reported that four of the injured were in critical condition, while 13 others, including one firefighter who suffered minor injuries, were listed in stable condition.
Authorities have not yet publicly disclosed the ages of the deceased.
FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore indicated that investigators had not yet determined how many individuals might still be located within the collapse zone or how many people remained unaccounted for.
“We know that we’re not finished here, and we will likely not be finished for quite some time,” Bonsignore said.
“We will be here for several days until this entire site is searched for all potential victims,” Esposito said.
Any individual unable to reach someone who may have been affected by the collapse is urged to contact 311, or 212-639-9675 for those calling from outside New York City.
Firefighters were observed carefully sifting through the rubble by hand and breaking through sections of collapsed walls to conduct searches beneath. Canine units were also deployed to assist in sweeping the debris field.
“This has been an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface. This type of rescue is exactly what the FDNY trains for,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a press conference Wednesday evening.
Camera crews on the ground captured footage of rescue personnel extracting one survivor from the rubble at approximately 6:15 p.m. A man present at the scene identified the survivor as his pregnant wife.
“The units are performing dangerous and heroic work,” Bonsignore said.
Motorists were strongly advised to avoid the surrounding area and to anticipate significant traffic delays and road closures. Flatbush Avenue was closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue.
A reception center for residents displaced by the collapse was established at the Flatbush YMCA.
The New York City Department of Buildings confirmed that its commissioner and a team of investigators were dispatched to the site to support recovery operations and carry out structural stability assessments of nearby buildings.
City records indicate that a contractor had previously been issued a violation in connection with activity at the vacant lot adjacent to the collapsed building, located at 2625 Bedford Avenue. According to those records, the buildings department had cited a demolition contractor in April after inspectors determined that the structure on that lot had been demolished in violation of a city-issued stop-work order. The violation is currently listed as resolved, though the records do not specify the original reason the stop-work order was issued.
Department of Buildings officials confirmed that plans for the construction of a three-story building at that site had been approved, and that excavation work had been underway prior to the collapse.
“When that happens at a construction site, when you’re actually digging down very deep into the ground next to an existing building, that can often present a lot of precarious problems of destabilizing an existing building, and if proper precautions aren’t taken, sometimes this is what happens,” said Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
It remains unclear whether the excavation work was a contributing factor in Wednesday’s collapse.
The Brooklyn District Attorney announced that his office is actively collaborating with the Department of Buildings and law enforcement agencies to determine whether any criminal conduct played a role in the incident.
