Tinotenda Hove- At least two people have died and more than 10 others have been hospitalised after a three-storey residential building collapsed in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday, triggering a major emergency rescue operation.

The incident occurred at approximately 4pm local time in the Flatbush neighbourhood, where the apartment block reportedly crumbled into an adjoining construction site where excavation work was taking place.

New York City Fire Department Chief John Esposito said the building, which contained four residential units and dated back to 1930, collapsed into the neighbouring construction area. Authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the disaster.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the deaths and said more than 10 people had been transported to nearby hospitals with injuries ranging from critical to less serious conditions.

Fire Department Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said authorities had accounted for 19 victims, including seven children. However, officials had not established whether the two fatalities involved adults or minors.

One firefighter also sustained minor injuries during the emergency response.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene, with a firefighting crew already operating nearby reportedly arriving within a minute of the collapse. The firefighters immediately began pulling survivors from the wreckage.

Television footage showed emergency personnel working through piles of concrete and other debris, assisted by specially trained search dogs as they looked for people who could still be trapped beneath the ruins.

Local broadcaster WABC-TV reported that at least four survivors were rescued between two and two-and-a-half hours after the building came down. Among those pulled from the wreckage was a pregnant woman.
Esposito warned that the search operation could continue for several days as emergency teams worked to examine the entire site and establish whether additional victims remained trapped.

“We do not know how many people are missing overall,” he said, stressing the need for a thorough search of the collapsed structure.

The Fire Department had initially reported four critically injured victims and six others with minor injuries before additional survivors were recovered from the rubble.
Authorities are continuing investigations into the cause of the collapse while rescue workers remain focused on locating anyone who may still be missing.