Eight Dead, Two of Them Children, in Brooklyn Building Collapse as Questions Mount Over the Dig Next Door

At least eight people, two of them children, were killed when a three-story building in Brooklyn's Flatbush section gave way Wednesday afternoon and fell into a construction pit next door, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday, as rescue crews kept digging through the rubble and the rain for anyone still trapped.

Officials have given injury counts ranging from 17 to 19, including at least three firefighters, and the mayor said four of the injured were in critical condition. Two of the dead were construction workers. One of them, 26-year-old Jose Luis Caguana, a construction worker from Ecuador, was identified by his brother. Among the dead and injured were people from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Trinidad.

The first 911 call came in at 4:01 p.m. Wednesday, and firefighters were on the scene within a minute. The building, at 2625 Bedford Avenue, had a shop on the ground floor and apartments above. City records list four apartments on its upper two floors. It buckled and fell sideways into the empty lot beside it, where crews were digging the foundation for a planned nine-story building. Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said workers were excavating the lot when the structure gave way.

More than 250 firefighters and EMS workers worked through the night with excavators, search dogs and drones. Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the operation is still a rescue effort, not a recovery. Firefighters pulled a pregnant woman alive from the debris Wednesday night. The city shut off water to about 100 nearby buildings so crews could keep digging, and nearby Flatbush Avenue stayed closed Thursday morning. Heavy rain soaked the scene through the day, and the Daily Mail reported that the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of the city Thursday afternoon.

Questions are now turning to the work next door. City records show the Department of Buildings ordered work stopped at the site in March, after inspectors found the old building there had been torn down without proper overhead protection, such as netting, for the neighbors. About a month later, inspectors found demolition still going on in defiance of that order, and the contractor was fined $10,000. The stop-work order was lifted in May once the problems were fixed, and the project held active permits for excavation and foundation work.

All work at the site has now stopped again, its permits have been suspended, and law enforcement is investigating, according to the Daily Wire. The project's architect, property owner and general contractor did not respond to requests for comment from CBN News.

Dan Eschenasy, the city's former chief structural engineer, told CNN the construction next door was the likely cause. He said tearing down the neighboring building left the old structure standing alone as an "extremely fragile" corner building, and that soil shifting as little as half an inch during digging can be enough to bring a building down. City Councilwoman Farah Louis called for a full investigation of the site's safety record, saying buildings do not collapse without warning signs.

Mamdani ordered safety inspections at about 100 building sites tied to the companies involved in the project. The Department of Buildings is leading the investigation into the cause.

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For the families waiting outside the barricades on Bedford Avenue, the questions about permits and inspections can wait. They are waiting for names. Liberty Bell Report will update this story as officials identify the victims and the search goes on.