Eight dead and 17 injured after Brooklyn building collapse

At least eight people were killed and 17 injured, including seven children, when a three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn collapsed on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. The side of the adjacent building at 1323 Flatbush Avenue was torn off in the incident, and a nearby vacant construction site also suffered damage.

More than 250 firefighters and EMS personnel responded, with FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito noting that a fire company arrived within a minute of the collapse and began rescuing trapped occupants from the neighboring building. "They encountered people trapped in the adjacent building that was part of the collapse. They immediately took action and removed those people from danger," Esposito said.

FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said investigators do not yet know how many people may still be missing and that the search could continue for several days. "We know that we're not finished here, and we will likely not be finished for quite some time," she said.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani described the operation as "incredibly challenging and fast-moving," adding that the type of rescue work is what FDNY trains for. The American Red Cross and NYC Emergency Management opened a reception center at the Flatbush YMCA for displaced residents, registering eight adults and two children for assistance.

City officials indicated that a demolition contractor had previously received a violation for work at the vacant lot adjacent to the collapsed building, though the violation was later marked as resolved. John Jay College fire science associate professor Glenn Corbett said deep excavation next to existing structures can create instability if proper precautions are not taken, but it remains unclear whether the construction activity contributed to the collapse. The Brooklyn District Attorney's office is cooperating with the Department of Buildings and law-enforcement agencies to investigate possible criminal conduct.