NEW YORK CITY—Mayor Zohran Mamdani said city officials are investigating the sudden collapse of an apartment building in the borough of Brooklyn on Nov. 11 that killed eight and left 18 injured, as well as an adjacent active construction site, to determine the cause of the tragedy.
“If there is anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable,” Mamdani said at a Nov. 12 news conference at the site of the collapse on Flatbush Avenue and Bedford Avenue.
The three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Ave. collapsed on the afternoon of Nov. 11, taking with it the exterior wall of 1323 Flatbush Ave., leaving the interior staircase and neighboring apartments exposed.
James Williams, 60, who works at the Chelsea Deli Grocery across the street and knew some of the building residents, said the adjacent construction site was often active from the early morning hours late into the night.
On Nov. 11, Williams said he came to work at 6:30 a.m. and heard what sounded like construction workers hitting the foundation of the structure. Then came a big bang as loud as a gunshot and the smell of burning metal, he said. He said he later saw a few bricks fall from the building but never imagined the situation was so dangerous that the entire building could collapse.
At about 4 p.m., Williams said he heard and saw the building crumble, and that a woman on the interior staircase of the neighboring structure also slid into the construction site.
“The lady that I saw trying to climb up that staircase, I don’t know if she got out alive or not,” Williams said. “It was devastating. Who wants to see a building collapse that people live in?”
Mamdani confirmed on Nov. 12 that eight people died in the collapse, with six declared dead at the site and two in the hospital. Two of the victims were children who lived in the building, and two were construction workers at the 2625 Bedford Ave. site.
There are 18 still in the hospital, including one who is in critical condition. Four of the 18 are firefighters who arrived to help with search and rescue.
New York City Fire Department firefighters responded to the 911 call for help within one minute of the call coming in.
On the morning of Nov. 12, search-and-rescue efforts continued with grapplers removing large debris items from the site. New York City Fire Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said firefighters are removing the larger items and will not stop searching until all debris is cleared. Heavy rain hindered site clearing efforts on the afternoon of Nov. 12 as the dusty site turned to mud.
“We always assume there are more people there until we can access the ground,” Bonsignore said.
Mamdani said five entities were involved in the work at the construction site, and those five are connected to 100 construction sites across the city. The Department of Buildings is conducting sweeps of all sites to make sure they are safe.
