Eight Dead, Including Two Children, in Brooklyn Building Collapse

A three-story building collapsed in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn on Wednesday afternoon, killing eight people, including two children, ages 9 and 10. The collapse happened at about 4 p.m. on November 11 at the corner of Flatbush and Bedford Avenues, ABC7 New York reported. Eighteen other people were hurt.

The building, at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, held a store on the ground floor and apartments above it. It fell into an open excavation site next door, where a developer held active permits for digging and foundation work, according to ABC7. Rescue crews dug through the rubble through Thursday afternoon before finishing their search, and officials said there were no more victims at the site.

Investigators have not yet said what caused the collapse. New York City's Department of Buildings is working to determine the cause and is inspecting nearby buildings for structural damage. ABC7 reported that the agency had issued a stop-work order at the excavation site in March of this year over inadequate overhead protection, and cited the builder in April for continuing work in violation of that order. The order was lifted in May after the violations were corrected. The investigation is expected to look closely at how the digging next door may have affected the building that fell.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised answers for the public. "We will find out what happened, and we will share that information with New Yorkers," he said. Police released the names of all eight victims on Thursday evening.

The collapse has raised questions about safety at building sites in crowded neighborhoods, where digging and heavy work often happen just feet from occupied homes. For the families of the victims, and for neighbors who lost their homes in an instant, answers cannot come soon enough.