A 10-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl are among eight people who were killed after a building collapsed in Brooklyn as rescuers continue to dig through waterlogged wreckage amid a rainstorm.Â
Absolute terror hit the Big Apple on Wednesday evening when a building in Flatbush came tumbling to the ground, trapping residents and construction workers. Jose Luis Caguana, 26, has been named as one of the victims who died.
The two kids, who have not been identified, died alongside six adults. Two of those adults were construction workers on site when the foundation came falling down, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said this afternoon. Â
Distressing images and videos have revealed the chilling aftermath of the three-story building collapse, and now an inspection report has shed light on the condition of the structure before it came crumbling down.Â
The report, obtained by The New York Times, said that a special inspector with the Buildings Department detailed that the building was in ‘poor condition and riddled with cracks.’
Earlier, a forensic engineer said that the construction site was likely to blame for the tragedy.
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Pictures of rescue efforts and aftermath of collapse
Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirms six were found dead at the scene, and two others died at hospital
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed in a press conference on Thursday that six adults were found dead at the scene of the building collapse.
Two construction workers later died in hospitals from their injuries.
The mayor said that firefighters arrived on the scene in less than one min after the first 911 call was dispatched.
He confirmed that search and rescue operations will continue today, but will be challenging in rainy conditions.
Breaking:Seven of eight victims in Flatbush building collapse tragedy named
The victims have been identified by the New York Times as:
Edgar Santiago Sapón Gutierrez, 26, died in the horror collapse, his family said.
His loved ones were looking for him all night and even went to see if he was at the morgue, Marisela Vasquez, whose niece is married to Gutierrez, told the NYT.
They then got back to the collapse site and were told the horrible news.
‘Unfortunately, they told us that he had died,’ Vasquez said.
He leaves behind a six-year-old son.
Victims from different countries
The victims who were either killed or injured after the collapse were from several countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, and Trinidad, Mayor Mamdani said.
Two of the people who died were construction workers, he said, noting that those who did not get trapped stayed on scene to help firefighters dig through the rubble.
WATCH: Mamdani shares update on deadly building collapse in Brooklyn
Mamdani: ‘We will hold them fully accountable’
Mamdani confirmed that ‘if there is anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable.’
There are five main entities associated with the construction site that operate with over 100 sites across the New York CIty.
Those sites will be swept today to confirm if there are any other issues that the Department of Buildings needs to address.
NYC Fire Commissioner confirms rescue efforts will continue ‘until we are 100% sure there are no more people trapped’
Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore confirmed at the press conference that search and rescue efforts will continue until officials are certain there is nobody left trapped in the building debris..
‘To be clear, we have not shifted from rescue to recovery. We are still in the search-and-rescue phase,’ Bonsignore said.
‘We have moved into a general debris removal, and we are using grapplers to move … big chunks of the debris so we can search beneath them.’
NYC Building Department clarifies information about inspector
Reports that the special inspector assigned to oversee the construction site adjacent to the collapsed building has an expired license have been shut down by the Building Department.
Officials said that records showed the expired license on an old portal and that the inspector’s credentials are active, the NYT reported.
It still remains unclear if the inspector has been at the site recently.
Complaint filed hours after collapse about excavation work
An anonymous complaint was filed with the Department of Buildings around 9pm on Wednesday that raised concerns about excavation work taking place at the construction site adjacent to the fallen structure, according to a report.
The complaint, obtained by the NYT, said that the ‘subcontractor may have excavated too much of the area along the neighboring foundation.’
The site also had high groundwater and sandy soil, the report stated.
It is unclear who submitted the complaint, but the agency said it was ‘a member of the public’ who did so.
Mayor’s office conducts sweeps across the city to ensure other construction sites remain safe
Mamdani said that the Department of Buildings has identified ‘five different entities associated with the construction site,’ and that officials would sweep ‘a hundred other sites across the city’ to ensure that they were safe.
Rescue operations will continue during rainstorm, Mamdani says
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that rescue operations will continue as a major storm hits the city.
‘Conditions will grow more challenging today with the rain, but operations will continue,’ he said during a press conference.
Streets close to the collapse are pooling up with shin-high water as skies are downpouring.
