A whole wall sheared away, leaving beds and wardrobes hanging in mid-air. Eight people are dead – including a nine-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy – after a three-storey apartment building in Brooklyn collapsed into a construction site next door.
What happened
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, at the corner of Bedford Avenue in the Flatbush area of Brooklyn, partially collapsed shortly after 4pm local time on Wednesday, 11 November, according to Newsweek and CBS New York.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said six people died at the scene and two more died in hospital. At least 17 people were injured. Two of the dead were construction workers working on the site beside the building.
“My heart is heavy this morning, as we have now lost eight New Yorkers to this tragic building collapse,” Mamdani said, according to CBS New York.
The victims
The NYPD has named all eight victims. They include Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, and Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10. The six adults who died were all in their 20s and 30s.
The Colombian consulate in New York said three of its citizens, including the two children, were among those killed. Ecuador’s consulate said two Ecuadorian men also died, CNN reported.
One of the dead, 26-year-old construction worker Jose Luis Caguana, was expecting his second child with his wife, his brother told NBC New York.
The investigation
The New York Fire Department has ended search and rescue operations, and an investigation is under way. Officials have not yet said what caused the collapse. Mayor Mamdani said investigators are examining both the building and the neighbouring construction site.
Why it resonates at home
New York has a large Irish community, and generations of Irish people have built their lives – and the city’s skyline – working on its building sites. A disaster like this, where workers and families living next to a construction site lost their lives, will be felt by many with friends and family there.
Our thoughts are with the families of all eight people who died, and with everyone injured.
Sources: CBS New York, NBC News, CNN, Newsweek.
Main image: Miltiadis Fragkidis / Unsplash
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