New York building collapse death toll rises to eight

The death toll from a three-story residential building collapse in New York City rose to at least eight, with 19 injured, the city's fire department said Thursday.

The building collapsed on Wednesday in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, prompting a response by about 250 firefighters and rescue workers. Rescuers worked through the night searching the rubble. The fire department said four people were taken to hospital in critical condition, and FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said Wednesday that seven children were among the injured.

The building dated from 1930 and had four apartments and a commercial space on the ground floor. It collapsed onto a nearby excavation site. An adjacent building was also affected, with one wall torn away and a staircase and rooms exposed above the rubble.

Ahmed Tigani, commissioner of New York's Department of Buildings, said the building fell into an adjacent work site where construction workers had been carrying out excavation. He said developers had approval for a three-story building at the site and were seeking permission for a nine-story building.

City building department documents reviewed by AFP showed the construction site had been issued a stop-work order in April because of potentially dangerous demolition conditions. Work continued, resulting in a $10,000 fine for the company involved. No link has been established between those violations and the collapse.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately clear. The Department of Buildings said inspectors were assisting recovery operations and checking the structural stability of nearby buildings.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised emergency workers and said the site involved unstable wreckage and dangerous voids beneath the surface. Witnesses described hearing noises, seeing dust and bricks falling, and then watching the building come down.