Eight people were killed and at least 19 others injured, including seven children, when a three-storey building in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, collapsed into a deep construction pit next door on Wednesday afternoon, November 11, police sources said on Thursday, as firefighters worked through a second day of searching rubble that officials say will take days to clear.
Source: Brownstoner / amNY
The building, at 1321 Flatbush Avenue at the corner of Flatbush and Bedford Avenues, fell into an open excavation at 2625 Bedford Avenue shortly after 4 p.m. The Fire Department of New York (FDNY) said the first 911 call came in at 4:01 p.m. and crews arrived within about a minute. City records describe four apartments over a ground-floor shop in a building dating to around 1916-1930, on a busy commercial stretch of Flatbush Avenue in the Little Haiti section of the neighbourhood.
Source: ABC News via MyCentralOregon
A night of digging by hand
Rescuers worked all night under floodlights, passing buckets of bricks and splintered wood, cutting wreckage with circular saws and using heavy machinery to lift slabs of masonry, while search dogs went through the dust from about 3:30 a.m. One more victim was recovered at about 4:45 a.m. on Thursday and another at about 6 a.m. Police sources said six people were pronounced dead at the scene and two more died of their injuries in hospital.
Source: Brownstoner / amNY
The toll moved all night. At a Wednesday night briefing, city officials had confirmed two dead and 17 injured - four in critical condition, four with serious but not life-threatening injuries and nine with minor injuries. A firefighter was also hurt at about 1:30 a.m. on Thursday when a fallen beam shifted and struck him in the head; he was carried out on a stretcher and listed in stable condition. Officials warned the figures could still change, because it is not yet known how many people were inside or whether everyone has been accounted for.
Source: ABC News via MyCentralOregon
"We expect there could be more people found as this operation progresses. The units are performing dangerous and heroic work. We know we are not finished here, and we will likely not be finished here for quite some time." Bonsignore called the operation a "major technical response" and said it would be prolonged. FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said the main danger now is a secondary collapse.
The excavation next door
Construction crews were excavating the lot next door when the building came down, Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said. The Department of Buildings issued earthwork and support-of-excavation permits for the site on September 9, 2026, allowing digging about 14 feet below street level, according to records reviewed by Engineering News-Record. Officials said a three-storey building had been approved for the site, while plans for a nine-storey mixed-use building had been filed but not approved. No cause for the collapse has been determined, and investigators have not established whether the excavation or its support work played any role; officials have not assigned fault.
Source: Global 1 News, citing Reuters, ABC7, NYT, NBC New York and ENR
City records reported by local outlets show the neighbouring site was ordered to stop demolition work in March after inspectors found demolition proceeding without the required overhead protection for adjoining properties; the building there was demolished anyway, drawing a violation and a $10,000 fine that the owner paid in October, when the violation was recorded as resolved. The lot, sold in 2023 in an all-cash deal for $3.99 million to two limited liability companies, FF1632 LLC and JS1024 LLC, was being dug out for a planned apartment building foundation. The building that collapsed is owned by Isolag Realty Corp. and carried 98 open housing violations, which reporting described as non-structural - including exposed wiring, a roof leak and a smoke detector.
Source: Brownstoner / amNY
What is solid
- A three-storey building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue collapsed into the excavation next door shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 11; the first 911 call was logged at 4:01 p.m.
- Seven children were among the injured, FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
- The Department of Buildings and law enforcement are investigating; no cause has been announced.
- Flatbush Avenue is closed from Clarendon Road to Bedford Avenue while rescue work continues.
What is only claimed
- The exact death toll: city officials confirmed two dead on Wednesday night, while police sources put the toll at eight on Thursday (six at the scene, two in hospital). No final official total has been issued and officials say it may still rise.
- What caused the collapse, and whether the excavation next door contributed to it, has not been established.
Displaced families and a closed avenue
At least eight households were displaced - residents of the collapsed building and of 1323 Flatbush Avenue next door, whose party wall was sheared away, leaving a staircase, a bedroom and closets open to the air. New York City Emergency Management and the American Red Cross opened a reception centre at the Flatbush YMCA, 1401 Flatbush Avenue; the Red Cross said 11 adults and two children from six households registered for emergency help before the centre closed for the night at 10:50 p.m. Anyone who cannot reach someone they believe was in the collapse can call 311, or 212-639-9675 from outside the city.
Source: Global 1 News
In a statement on Thursday morning, Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised rescuers who "spent the night searching the site of yesterday's building collapse, working under extremely dangerous conditions," and said: "There are no words for a loss of this magnitude. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost." On Wednesday he said the Department of Buildings and law enforcement partners would lead the investigation into what caused the collapse. Representative Yvette Clarke, whose district includes Flatbush, said she is monitoring the situation with Community Board 17, and Council Member Farah N. Louis called the images from the site "heartbreaking."
What happens next
The search is expected to continue for days, with crews working by hand around unstable wreckage, drones, dogs and vacuum trucks. Department of Buildings inspectors are checking the structural stability of neighbouring buildings. The investigation will examine the excavation, its permits and support work and the collapsed building's own record, and Brooklyn's district attorney is working with the Buildings Department and law enforcement on whether any criminal conduct contributed, according to earlier city reports. Flatbush Avenue remains closed at the site, and officials are asking the public to stay clear so rescue crews can work.