A building collapse in Brooklyn, New York, has killed at least two people and injured more than 10 others, including children, as emergency workers continue searching the rubble for possible survivors.
The three-storey apartment building, located in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, collapsed at about 4pm on Wednesday, November 11, plunging into an adjoining construction site where excavation work was underway.
New York City officials said 19 victims had been identified, including seven children, although the total number of people who may have been trapped beneath the debris remained unknown.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that “at least two people died, while more than 10 others were taken to local hospitals with injuries ranging from critical to non-life-threatening.”
New York City Fire Department Commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore, disclosed that “a firefighter also sustained minor injuries during the rescue operation.”
The four-unit apartment building, which dated back to 1930, collapsed into the neighbouring construction site, according to Fire Department Chief John Esposito.
He said the “cause of the collapse was under investigation, adding that authorities did not immediately know how many residents or construction workers were at the scene when the incident occurred.”
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A firefighting crew that happened to be in the neighbourhood arrived within a minute of the collapse and helped rescue the first victims from the debris, officials said.
Television footage showed rescue workers using search dogs to comb through the ruins while removing debris in buckets in an effort to locate people who might have been trapped in spaces beneath the rubble.
US television station WABC-TV reported that at least “four survivors were pulled from the wreckage between two and two-and-a-half hours after the collapse, including a pregnant woman.”
Esposito, however, warned that the search operation could take several days.
“It would take rescue teams several days for the entire site to be searched for all potential victims,” he said, adding, “We do not know how many people are missing overall.”
The Fire Department had initially reported that four people were critically injured and six others sustained minor injuries before the first two survivors were rescued.
Authorities had yet to establish the full number of people affected by the collapse as rescue operations continued.
