Flatbush Building Collapse Kills Eight; City Blames Site Next Door

A three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue collapsed into the excavation next door at 4:01 p.m. Wednesday, and eight people are dead.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the toll Thursday morning: six people recovered from the rubble and two who died at the hospital. Eighteen people were injured — 14 civilians and four firefighters — and seven children are among the injured.

The Department of Buildings has put its finding in writing: the collapse "was caused by unsafe construction operations at the adjacent property." The department's stop-work filing on the excavation says the same, and it hasn't tied the site's earlier violations to the collapse.

The building went up in 1930 and held four apartments over a medical-uniforms store. It fell into the open excavation at 2625 Bedford Avenue, and the side wall of the building at 1323 Flatbush was sheared in the fall.

The search runs at least three more days, Chief of Department John Esposito said Thursday, and Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore's crews are racing a storm due Thursday night. A beam shifted and struck a firefighter in the head around 1:30 a.m.; a K-9 unit worked the pile at 3:30 a.m., and the sixth body came out just after 6:30 a.m. Every resident of 1321 Flatbush is accounted for. How many construction workers were in the collapse zone, officials still don't know.

The lot's paper trail predates the collapse. In March, the Buildings Department ordered demolition there halted: the one-story building on the lot was coming down without the netting and sheds that protect the buildings next door. In April inspectors found the work resumed in violation of the order, a Class 1 violation with a $10,000 fine, resolved in October. Permits issued in September allowed earthwork and support of excavation to 14 feet. City records link the site to N Tech Design of America Corp; the lot is owned by an LLC run by Robert Fischman, which is seeking a 56,000-square-foot mixed-use building there. No comment from the company has been reported.

A full vacate order now covers 1321 Flatbush, deemed unsafe to enter or occupy, and every permit for work at the excavation site is suspended. Water is shut off to several surrounding buildings. The Red Cross has registered seven households — 14 adults and five children — for emergency help at the Flatbush YMCA.

One man killed was identified by his brother Carlos to reporters as Jose Luis Caguana, 26, a construction worker whose wife is days from giving birth to their second child. Four of the people recovered Thursday are believed to be construction workers. Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's office is looking at whether criminal conduct contributed; no charges have been announced.

Update, 12:50 p.m. ET — Two of the eight people killed are children, Mayor Mamdani said at a midday briefing. The other six are adults, and two of them are construction workers. Officials still haven't released any names.

Update, 12:50 p.m. ET — Excavators are scooping rubble at the site while the search goes on, the AP reports. Officials still can't say whether anyone else is trapped.

Update, 8:34 p.m. ET — The search is over. The Fire Department announced at 3:37 p.m. that it had “concluded rescue operations throughout the entire site and determined there are no more victims,” ending a 24-hour search that put more than 250 firefighters and EMS personnel on the pile. The site has been turned over to the Department of Buildings and the Police Department.

Update, 8:34 p.m. ET — Police have identified all eight of the dead: Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, and her cousin Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10; Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; Ndiaye Mamadou, 31; Barry Mamadou, 23; Gabriel Siguencia, 22; Edgar Sapon, 26; and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26 — the construction worker his brother Carlos had identified to reporters earlier Thursday.

Update, 8:34 p.m. ET — The injured count is settled at 18 — 14 civilians and four firefighters — Mayor Mamdani said. Most of those still in the hospital are stable, and one person remains in critical condition.

Update, 8:34 p.m. ET — The enforcement net widened Thursday. Five entities tied to the excavation site are linked to about 100 other properties across the city, the mayor said, and Buildings inspectors have begun sweeping them. Vacate orders now also cover the neighboring buildings at 1323, 1325 and 1327 Flatbush Avenue.