Prayer Alert: Death Toll at 8, 17 Injured in NYC Building Collapse (Videos)

SMG News Wire : Nov 12, 2026
ToddStarnes.com

"We do not know how many people are missing overall." -Fire Department Chief John Esposito

(New York, NY) — [ToddStarnes.com] At least eight people were killed and 17 were injured when a three-story building collapsed into a construction site in Brooklyn, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday. Three firefighters were among the injured, and fire officials had reported four people in critical condition earlier Thursday. Crews continued searching the rubble for anyone still trapped. (Screengrab image: via GMA /ABC News)

"It looked like September 11th to me when I looked outside," Marie Valcourt, who works nearby, told WABC-TV. The station also reported that a carpenter at the site recorded video after the collapse while holding a child. His brother said the carpenter told him he had picked up the child from the collapsed building.

The building at 1321 Flatbush Ave., which housed apartments above a storefront, came down shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday. Six bodies were recovered from the wreckage, and two people died after being taken to a hospital, the New York Post reported. Fire officials said seven children were among the casualties.

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"There are no words for a loss of this magnitude," Mamdani wrote on X.

Fire Department Chief John Esposito said a crew returning from another emergency reached the scene in less than a minute and helped people trapped in an adjoining building. About 250 firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded. Crews used search dogs, drones and power tools, hauling debris away in buckets as they worked through the night.

"We do not know how many people are missing overall," Esposito told reporters Wednesday. He said a complete search could take several days. Part of a wall had been torn off the adjoining building, exposing rooms and raising concerns about a second collapse.

Anderson Velez, who lived in the building, told the New York Post he was at work when his wife called from beneath the rubble. "She was screaming for someone to help get my son out and then the call cut off," he said. His wife and their two children, ages 7 and 2, were rescued.

Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said workers were excavating the lot next door when the building fell. City officials were investigating the cause. Records reviewed by WABC showed that a summons involving an alleged violation of a stop-work order at the construction site had been resolved.

At least eight households were displaced, city officials told WABC. The city and the American Red Cross opened a reception center at the Flatbush YMCA, where displaced residents could get help, including mental health services. Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here