Excavation Was Taking Place Next to Building in Brooklyn That Collapsed

New York City officials ordered construction at a Brooklyn site to be halted after an apartment building collapsed onto it, killing eight people.

Hundreds of firefighters worked through the night, sifting through rubble of the collapsed building, which had largely fallen into the open construction pit next door.

Building officials said plans for a three-story building had been approved for the site, and that developers had submitted plans for a nine-story building. Excavation work was taking place at the site at the time of the collapse, officials said. Previously, the plot had been home to a one-story building.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the Department of Buildings and law enforcement would lead an investigation into the cause of the collapse. “This has been an incredibly challenging and fast moving situation with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface,” he told reporters.

A full stop-work order was issued for the construction site, the department said, adding that its engineers were conducting structural stability inspections of nearby buildings.

A statement from the Department of Buildings added that its inspectors and engineers were at the site of the collapse and that the department had also launched an investigation, in tandem with law enforcement.

The department said the developers of the construction site adjacent to the collapsed building had an active permit for excavation and foundation work on the lot.

In March, the Department of Buildings ordered the property owner at the construction site to halt demolition work after it found that there was inadequate protection for nearby properties. The order was fully lifted in August after the department found that the project team had corrected the violations.