The key facts

  • The 1930s-era building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue collapsed into the pit of a neighboring construction site on November 11 at around 4:00 p.m. local time
  • The death toll rose from two to eight: six adults and two children, two of the dead were construction workers
  • The Department of Buildings and the Brooklyn district attorney are investigating a possible criminal element; about 100 other sites linked to the same developer are being reviewed

What happened

On Wednesday, November 11, at around 4:00 p.m. local time, a three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue in the Flatbush section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City collapsed. The building, constructed in the 1930s, had shops on the ground floor and apartments above. It fell into the excavation pit of a neighboring construction site at 2625 Bedford Avenue, where workers were carrying out earthworks for a new residential complex with 64 apartments and a grocery store. The collapse tore away part of the exterior wall of the neighboring building at 1323 Flatbush Avenue, leaving apartment interiors exposed to the street. The fire department received the report at 4:01 p.m., firefighters arrived within a minute, and more than 250 rescuers and police officers took part in the operation.

Casualties and rescue operation

Casualty figures changed as the operation progressed. On Wednesday evening, Fire Commissioner Lilian Bonsignore reported 19 injured: two dead, four in critical condition, 12 in stable condition, and one firefighter with minor injuries; seven of the injured were children. By Thursday morning, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani reported eight dead — six adults and two children, two of the dead being construction workers. Six people died at the scene and two more at the hospital. The number of injured rose to 18, including four firefighters; one person remained in critical condition. Rescuers worked by hand, using drones, search dogs, cranes and heavy equipment. At around 6:30 p.m., a woman was pulled alive from the rubble — reportedly pregnant, about six months along, according to media reports; her husband confirmed in an interview with CBS News that she had survived. Resident Anderson Velez told the New York Post that his wife called him from the collapse site and then the connection was lost; it later emerged that she and their two children, aged two and seven, had been rescued alive. Fire Chief John Esposito warned that search-and-rescue work and debris removal could take several days due to the instability of the structures and the risk of a secondary collapse; rain and colder temperatures on Thursday, according to the mayor, complicated the work.

Investigation and review of other sites

The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined. Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani noted that the building collapsed while workers were digging the excavation pit on the neighboring lot, where a one-story structure had previously been demolished for new construction; according to him, no building code violations at the building itself had been recorded before the accident. According to CBS News, the developer, identified as Robert Fishman, held active permits for earthworks and foundation work. It is unclear whether the construction is connected to the collapse. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said his office, together with the Department of Buildings, is examining whether criminal conduct led to the tragedy. Mamdani promised a 'comprehensive and thorough' investigation and said city authorities had identified the companies carrying out the construction and were reviewing about 100 other sites linked to the same groups.

Reaction and impact on the neighborhood

Mamdani called the collapse devastating and warned that casualty figures could change; on Thursday he visited survivors in the hospital and wrote that 'there are no words for a loss of this magnitude.' According to him, among the dead and injured are people from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and other countries. Police asked residents to avoid the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Flatbush Avenue. For a neighborhood where African Caribbean, Latino and Asian communities have lived for decades, the accident came as a shock: the BBC describes it as one of the deadliest building collapses in New York's recent history. Residents gathered at the ruins, comforted families of the missing and searched for loved ones in hospitals; some of the dead and injured remained officially unidentified as of the latest reports.