Death toll rises to eight in Flatbush building collapse, including two children
Eight people were killed, among them a 9-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy, after a residential building collapsed in Flatbush, Brooklyn, with 18 others injured.
The death count from a building collapse in Flatbush, Brooklyn, increased to eight, officials said, including two children. The victims identified were 9-year-old Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez and 10-year-old Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez. The first adult victim identified by police was 26-year-old construction worker Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo. Five additional men – Gabriel Siguencia, 22; Barry Mamadou, 23; Edgar Sapon, 26; Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; and Ndiaye Mamadou, 31 – were also killed.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that construction workers who survived the initial collapse returned to the site to help rescue others. > "Construction workers who had only barely survived themselves, turned back and dug victims out of the rubble. People are alive today because of their heroism yesterday," he said.
Mamdani noted that the deceased and injured came from several countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador and Trinidad. Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn added that some victims were undocumented, raising concerns for their families. > "Some of them are undocumented, so there are some concerns about that, about what they do. One young boy who passed is unfortunately undocumented. So the families just don't know what to do. They are scared. The kids are scared," she said.
Authorities reported that 18 people were injured, including four firefighters.