At least 2 killed, 17 hurt in Brooklyn building collapse, officials say
At least two people were killed and 17 others injured when a building collapsed on Wednesday in Brooklyn, authorities said.
The collapse occurred just after 4 p.m. Eastern time Wednesday at a three-story building on Flatbush Avenue near Bedford Avenue in Flatbush.
The New York City Police Department said a building at 1321 Flatbush Ave. completely collapsed, while the side of an adjacent building 1323 Flatbush Ave. was torn off. The site next to the two residential buildings was under construction, officials said.
Two people were killed and at least 17 others were injured, including seven children, officials said. New York City Fire Department officials said that of the injured, four people were in critical condition and 13 people were in stable condition, including one firefighter with minor injuries.
FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said investigators do not know how many people were still in the collapse zone, describing the search and rescue situation as a prolonged operation.
According to police, the building that completely collapsed was occupied by residents at the time.
The FDNY says a major technical rescue operation is ongoing. Hundreds of firefighters could be seen sifting through the rubble by hand and breaking through a collapsed wall to apparently search underneath it. K-9 units were also seen checking the debris.
CBS News New York cameras captured crews pulling one survivor from the rubble at around 6:15 p.m. A man on the scene said that survivor is his pregnant wife.
Photos and video from the scene show the interiors of stairwells and apartments exposed at the neighboring building.
Drivers are encouraged to avoid the area and should expect traffic delays and road closures, officials say.
The New York City Department of Buildings says the commissioner and investigators were sent to the site to assist with recovery operations and conduct structural stability inspections of nearby buildings.
According to city records, the buildings department issued a violation to a demolition contractor back in April because inspectors said an entire building at that site was demolished earlier this year despite a city order to stop all demolition work. That violation is now listed as resolved, and the violation notice does not say why the city issued a stop work order in the first place.
City records show there has recently been construction work happening at that address since the demolition. It's unclear if that work has anything to do with Wednesday's collapse.
Expert Glenn Corbett, an associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says it appears there was excavation going on next to the collapsed building.
"When that happens at a construction site, when you're actually digging down very deep into the ground next to an existing building, that can often present a lot of precarious problems of destabilizing an existing building, and if proper precautions aren't taken, sometimes this is what happens," he said.
A reception center for displaced residents has been set up at the Flatbush YMCA located at 1401 Flatbush Ave., officials say.
The cause of the collapse is unknown at this time.
Further details have not yet been released.
Stay with CBS News New York for the latest on this developing story.
