Flatbush neighbours describe fear and grief after Brooklyn building collapse

Mamdani says fire department reached scene within one minute of call

Ann Marie did not hear the Brooklyn building behind her home collapse over the loud noise of her radio, but she soon saw the flashing lights of fire department trucks rushing to the scene, she told the BBC. When she made her way out to the wreckage, workers were still searching for bodies.

One of the building’s walls tore off in the collapse, exposing the inside of several apartment homes, and the rubble collapsed into the construction site next door.

It was around 16:00 EST (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday when residents heard a loud boom as the 1930s building collapsed into a neighboring construction site, where crews were working, according to fire department officials. Two construction workers were among the dead. At least eight people died in the accident — six adults and two children, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

Mamdani said 18 people were injured, including four firefighters, and one person is in critical condition. On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani said he had visited survivors in hospital. The New York City Fire Department was on the scene within one minute of the emergency call, Mamdani said.

“I want to take a moment to remember those we have so senselessly lost,” Mamdani said. “These were our friends and our neighbours, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city, immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and beyond.” The mayor also praised the “heroism” of first responders.

Mamdani pledged a “comprehensive and thorough” investigation into both the construction site and the building. He said city officials had identified the companies running the site and were examining 100 other sites operated by the same groups to ensure they are safe.

The mayor said search conditions would grow more difficult with the rain on Thursday, but responders will continue their efforts. Workers have been looking through the wreckage with drones, sniffer dogs, cranes and other equipment, and officials said they would continue until they were entirely certain no one remained trapped, with big pieces of debris still to remove.

“Right now, I’m really scared,” Marie said. “Now that I’m seeing exactly this side of the building, you can imagine the fright of those people, what happened to them.”

Patricia Starek, who has lived in Flatbush for 26 years, said she was waiting for her son to come home from school when she saw helicopters near her home. She said the surge of emergency responders brought back memories of New York during the 2001 terrorist attacks, which she lived through in the neighborhood. “How does a building just fall into a pit?” she said. “We all live here with the assumption that stairs are stable, floors are stable, that you can be on your third floor and not have the earth fall below you.” Starek said New York residents should not have to worry that their buildings will “fall into the earth.”

Footage showed a woman who was six months pregnant being rescued from the rubble. “She is alive. She is still alive. I’m very happy. I’m very happy,” her husband told the BBC’s US partner CBS News. “I thank all of you guys.”

Joyette Kerr had been at the scene since midnight on Thursday, praying with family members who were missing loved ones. She watched emergency responders pull a survivor from the wreckage at 1:30 EST (6:30 GMT), she said. At the church across the street, she consoled the wife of a young construction worker who died when the building fell on him; rescuers recovered his body, Kerr said. “His wife was very hysterical,” said Kerr, who has lived in the neighborhood since she was a teenager. “She couldn’t take the pain.” She said another man had been frantically going to all the nearby hospitals to try to find his two nephews, but still had no answers.

Dozens of residents gathered around the building on Thursday morning as debris floated through the air, watching as workers tried to find more survivors or recover remains. The collapse rattled a neighborhood the BBC described as calm and quiet, a melting pot of many New York immigrant communities including Afro-Caribbean, Hispanic and Asian residents.

Starek said she was heading to the local YMCA, where some family members had gathered, to see if she could help, and many others in the neighborhood were doing the same. “People look out for each other,” Marie said. Losing eight of her neighbors, she said: “I can’t believe it. There’s a pain.” Kerr said she hoped her hours with the victims’ families brought them some measure of comfort after one of the deadliest building collapses in recent New York history. “It’s going to be very profound,” she said of the impact the accident will have. “Hopefully this will bring the community together.”