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Brooklyn building collapse kills eight including two children and injures 18

Three-storey Flatbush block stood at the edge of a construction site, two of the dead worked at the site next door

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Firefighters rescue a person after Brooklyn building collapse Firefighters rescue a person after Brooklyn building collapse theguardian.com
Zohran Mamdani said the conditions around the building were ‘extremely dangerous’ and urged people to stay away from the area. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Zohran Mamdani said the conditions around the building were ‘extremely dangerous’ and urged people to stay away from the area. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty theguardian.com
Major rescue efforts take place after residential collapse in Brooklyn - video Major rescue efforts take place after residential collapse in Brooklyn - video theguardian.com
The building had housed a number of apartments. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty The building had housed a number of apartments. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty theguardian.com
Rescuers searching for people in the rubble a day after the Brooklyn building collapsed. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Rescuers searching for people in the rubble a day after the Brooklyn building collapsed. Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty theguardian.com

A three-storey residential building in Flatbush, Brooklyn, collapsed shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, killing at least eight people, two of them children, and injuring 18 more, four of them firefighters. Six people were found dead in the wreckage and two died later of their injuries, city officials said. The building stood at the edge of a construction site, and two of the dead have been identified as construction workers from that site.

About 250 FDNY responders worked the pile through the night, with drones and canine units, and an excavator was brought in during the early hours of Thursday to move the larger pieces of wreckage. Video from the scene showed crews carrying several people out on stretchers. One person, covered in dust, was dug out at about 6.30pm on Wednesday after rescuers cut a hole through the debris, and a woman six months pregnant was among those rescued, according to New York's ABC affiliate WABC. Her husband, who had been searching for her through the late afternoon, told the station: "I have an update. She is alive, she is still alive. I am very happy."

Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted that he was heartbroken and urged the public to stay away from the site on Flatbush Avenue, where dozens of onlookers, some in tears, had gathered to watch the rescue. Torrential rain drenched the area as he spoke, with forecasters predicting heavy rain, thunderstorms and gusty winds through Thursday afternoon. "Conditions will get more challenging today with the rain, but operations will continue," Mamdani said.

Fire commissioner Lillian Bonsignore kept the operation classified as a rescue well into Thursday: "We have not shifted from rescue to recovery. We are still in the search and rescue phase. We always assume there are more people there until we can access the ground." The FDNY finished searching at 3.37pm local time on Thursday after determining there were no remaining victims. What remained of the building was turned over to the New York police department and the city's department of buildings.