New York, Nov 12:
At least two people were killed and 10 others injured—four of them critically—after a three-story mixed-use building collapsed beside an active excavation site in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighbourhood on Wednesday afternoon.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the casualties as scores of firefighters deployed search dogs, drones, power saws, and manual digging teams to scour the pile of bricks and timber for trapped residents. Fire Department Chief of Department John Esposito said rescue operations would continue over several days, noting that authorities were still ascertaining the exact number of missing persons after pulling a dust-covered survivor alive from the rubble on Wednesday evening.
The collapsed structure, which housed ground-floor businesses and upper-floor apartments, stood directly adjacent to a lot where a single-story building had recently been demolished and excavated for new construction. The impact also sheared off the exterior wall of a neighbouring residential building, leaving bedrooms and interiors exposed while city officials reached out to the project’s property owner, architect, and contractor.