Two people died and at least 17 others were injured – including seven children – when a building collapsed Wednesday on the edge of a construction site in New York, officials said, sparking a frantic search by firefighters sifting through large piles of rubble.
The four-unit building dating from 1930 collapsed around 4 p.m. near the intersection of Bedford and Flatbush avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, the New York Fire Department said. It was unclear what caused or led to it.
The FDNY said two people were pulled from the rubble shortly after the collapse. Aerial video shows dozens of firefighters searching for more people, with at least two trapped in the rubble. A senior city official later said the two men were being released shortly before 5 p.m.
Two people are dead and four of the injured are in critical condition, FDNY officials said at a news conference Wednesday evening. Seven children and a firefighter were among the injured, according to the FDNY.
Firefighters noted that the number of victims could rise, as it is unclear how many people were in the building at the time of the collapse or whether everyone was found.
FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said that figure could change “from minute to minute” as the operation, expected to last several days, continues.
“The situation here is very fragile. … We will continue searching until we find everyone,” Bonsignore said, noting that the victims included construction workers and those who were inside the building at the time.
The FDNY did not share the ages or identities of the two people killed, or whether any children died.
One man told NBC New York that his brother, José Luis Caguana, was killed in the collapse.
The 26-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant had lived in the United States for about six years, his brother said, where he worked construction to support his family. Caguana’s wife, who is pregnant and due to give birth soon, was too upset to speak to reporters on camera. The couple also have another young child.
“Her husband passed away; he was the sole provider for the family. Now that he is gone, she is suffering greatly. She is in a very bad state right now – she is completely overwhelmed and can’t even find the words to speak,” Caguana’s brother Carlos said in Spanish.
Video from NBC New York’s Chopper 4 showed firefighters pulling an injured person from the rubble around 4:45 p.m. He was taken away on a stretcher. Another person was seen being taken away on a stretcher shortly after 6:30 p.m.
The building that collapsed appeared to be three stories high, with a business on the ground floor. It was next to an excavation site after the complete demolition of a one-story building that previously stood there.
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