New York building collapse kills at least eight as rescuers search rubble

Show caption: Emergency responders at the site on Thursday, a day after a …

Officials are seeking to establish what caused the structure to fall

At least eight people died after a three-storey residential building adjacent to a construction site collapsed in New York City, officials said on Thursday as rescue crews searched the rubble for survivors.

About 250 first responders were sent to the site after the building came down in Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, sending bricks and wood into an excavation pit on the neighbouring property.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at least 17 people were injured, including three firefighters.

He urged the public to avoid the area as firefighters worked through what he described as “extremely dangerous conditions”.

“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” Mr Mamdani said in a post on X Thursday morning. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”

The search continued, with crews working through the rubble of the building.

Ahmed Tigani, the city's buildings commissioner, said in a video shared on social media that the building collapsed just after 4pm. Inspectors and engineers were helping rescue crews and checking whether the remaining structures were stable.

He said his department and law enforcement officials had opened an investigation into the collapse, examining both the residential building and the construction site next door.

Show caption: Emergency responders work at the scene of a building collaps…

Workers were excavating the neighbouring lot when the building fell, Mr Tigani said. A one-storey building there had been demolished to make way for a new development.

The apartment block fell into the pit dug for construction, filling it with bricks and wood.

Families scrambled for news of their loved ones. Anderson Velez, who lived in the building, told the New York Post he was at work when his wife called to say she and their children, aged seven and two, were trapped in the rubble.

“She called me when the building collapsed while she was inside with rubble on top of her. She was screaming for someone to help get my son out and then the call cut off,” he told the newspaper.

Mr Velez later learnt that his wife and both children had been rescued alive.

Updated:

November 12, 2026, 3:23 PM