Building collapse in Brooklyn kills two, injures more than a dozen

What the report says

A partial building collapse in Brooklyn, New York City, killed at least two people and injured more than a dozen others, according to Al Jazeera’s report on Wednesday. The collapse involved a three-storey mixed-use building in Flatbush, a neighbourhood described by the outlet as home to a predominantly Black and Afro-Caribbean community. Rescue crews continued searching the rubble for possible survivors as emergency operations stretched into the evening.

Officials said the building fell into a nearby construction site, trapping both residents and construction workers. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said first responders reached the scene one minute after the first emergency call. New York City Fire Department Chief John Esposito said crews were already nearby responding to another incident and immediately joined the rescue effort.

The FDNY said four victims were in critical condition, 12 were stable and one firefighter sustained minor injuries. A pregnant woman was among those rescued. The department also deployed a drone to help locate additional victims. City emergency management opened a help centre at the local Flatbush YMCA for affected residents and families.

Authorities said the cause of the collapse remains under investigation, and fire officials warned that recovery work would likely be prolonged because the site remains unstable. More broadly, building collapses in dense urban areas often require careful rescue operations due to the risk of further structural failure.