Eight people are dead and at least 17 are hurt after a building on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn collapsed into a construction pit next door Wednesday afternoon. Six people were found dead at the scene and two died at the hospital, the FDNY said Thursday, CBS New York reported. Seven children and three firefighters are among the injured, and four people were in critical condition Wednesday night.
The search isn’t over. Officials say they don’t know how many people were inside, and the toll could rise. “We’ll continue to look until we find everybody,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
What happened at 1321 Flatbush Avenue?
Just after 4 p.m., the building at 1321 Flatbush Ave., near Bedford Avenue, came down. It had a business on the ground floor and apartments upstairs, and residents were home. The side of the building next door, at 1323 Flatbush, was torn off.
Firefighters pulled survivors out through the night, including a pregnant woman about two hours after the collapse. Crews are using drones, dogs, excavators and their hands. “We will be here for several days until this entire site is searched,” FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said. Construction workers on the lot next door were among the victims, NBC News reported. One of them, Jose Luis Caguana, 26, came from Ecuador about six years ago. His brother said he was the sole provider for his pregnant wife and young child.
Did the construction next door cause the collapse?
Officials haven’t said yet, but that’s where the questions are pointing. The building fell into an open excavation at 2625 Bedford Ave., where crews were digging when it happened. “There were construction workers actively working when the collapse occurred,” Esposito said.
The developers had active permits for excavation and foundation work. City records show they want a nine-story building with 64 apartments and a grocery store, CBS New York reported, but only a three-story plan has been approved. In April the Buildings Department cited a demolition contractor after an entire building on the lot was torn down despite a city order to “stop all demolition work.” That violation is now listed as resolved. The city has issued a full stop-work order, and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office is looking at whether any crime was committed. The owner, architect and general contractor haven’t responded to reporters.
How can you get help or find someone?
The Red Cross and NYC Emergency Management opened a reception center for displaced residents at the Flatbush YMCA. If you can’t reach someone who may have been in the building, call 311, or 212-639-9675 from outside the city. Flatbush Avenue is closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue.
“I am heartbroken that eight New Yorkers have now lost their lives,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote Thursday. “There are no words for a loss of this magnitude.”
The BeezLoop Take
Digging a deep hole right next to an occupied building is routine in New York, and it’s supposed to come with shoring, monitoring and inspections. When a fully occupied building falls into the pit next door, the public deserves to know exactly what was checked and when.
This lot already had a citation for knocking down a building after the city ordered demolition stopped. A violation marked “resolved” doesn’t tell anyone much. The city should release the full inspection record for this site now, not after the investigation wraps.
The open question: will this turn out to be one bad contractor, or a sign that the city’s checks on excavation next to homes aren’t strong enough?
Sources: CBS New York · CBS New York (construction site) · NBC News · ABC7 New York (video)
