Two killed, over 10 injured in New York building collapse
At least two people have been killed and more than 10 others injured after a three-storey apartment building collapsed in Brooklyn, New York, with emergency responders continuing a search for possible survivors trapped beneath the rubble.
The incident occurred at about 4pm on Wednesday, November 11, in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, when the four-unit residential building collapsed into an adjoining construction site where excavation work was reportedly ongoing.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the fatalities, saying more than 10 people had been taken to nearby hospitals with injuries ranging from critical to non-life-threatening.
City officials said 19 victims had been identified, including seven children, although the total number of people who might have been inside the building when it collapsed remained unclear.
New York City Fire Department Commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore, disclosed that a firefighter also sustained minor injuries during the rescue operation.
According to Fire Department Chief John Esposito, the building, which was constructed in 1930, collapsed towards the neighbouring construction site.
He said the cause of the incident was still under investigation, adding that authorities had yet to determine how many residents and construction workers were present when the building came down.
Firefighters who were already in the neighbourhood reportedly arrived within a minute of the collapse and helped rescue some of the first victims from the debris.
Television footage showed emergency workers deploying search dogs to comb through the wreckage while rescue teams carefully removed debris in buckets in a bid to locate survivors.
US television station WABC-TV reported that at least four people were rescued from the rubble between two and two-and-a-half hours after the incident, including a pregnant woman.
Esposito warned that the search operation could last several days because of the extent of the destruction and the uncertainty surrounding the number of missing persons.
He said rescue teams would need several days to thoroughly search the site for potential victims.
The Fire Department had initially reported that four people sustained critical injuries, while six others suffered minor injuries.
Authorities said the full extent of the casualties and the number of people affected by the collapse were yet to be established as search and rescue operations continued.
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