BBC's Nada Tawfik explains what we know about the Brooklyn building collapse and rescue efforts
Eight people have died and 18 more were injured after a three-storey building collapsed in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York.
Witnesses described hearing a loud boom and seeing dust in the air as the building came down and fell into an adjacent construction pit where people were working on Wednesday.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, described a harrowing scene, saying workers "who had only barely survived themselves turned back and dug victims out of the rubble".
The city's fire commissioner, Lillian Bonsignore, said firefighters were on the scene within minutes and called their actions "incredibly heroic".
Rescue operations ended about 24 hours later on Thursday after fire officials determined there were no more victims at the site.
The site has now been turned over to the Department of Buildings and the New York police.
'How does a building just fall?' Neighbours grieve after deadly Brooklyn building collapse
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn was constructed in the 1930s. It contained apartments and a store.
At the construction site next door, plans have been approved for a new building that will include 64 residential units and a grocery store on the bottom floor.
Active work was happening on the site, and it appears part of the building fell into the construction pit, trapping and killing some workers.
It is too early to say what caused the building to collapse at around 16:00 local time (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday, but officials say they are looking into the possibility of filing criminal charges.
The structure was fully occupied by residents, and construction workers were performing excavation work on a neighbouring site at the time, according to CBS News, the BBC's US partner.
It's not clear if the construction had anything to do with the collapse, and the city's buildings department says it is still investigating.
Investigators have said developers have active permits for excavation and foundation work associated with the new building project.
In a post on X, Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said: "We are working closely with the Department of Buildings and our law enforcement partners to determine whether any criminal conduct contributed to this tragedy."
Mayor Mamdani later emphasised this message in a news conference, saying that every entity involved in the building and the construction site will be investigated, and held accountable.
Daylight shows scale of devastation after Brooklyn building collapse
Eight people - six adults and two children - were killed, authorities said. Two were construction workers.
Mamdani said that six people were pronounced dead at the scene, while another two died in hospital.
Four of the injured are firefighters. One person still in hospital is in a critical condition.
A senior official with the NYPD identified the victims as Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31, Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10, Barry Mamadou, 23, and Ndiaye Mamadou, 31, according to CBS, the BBC's US partner. They were residents of the building that collapsed.
The other victims lived elsewhere. Gabriel Siguencia, 22, lived in the Bronx, Edgar Sapon, 26, lived in Hell's Kitchen and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26, lived in the Bushwick neighbourhood of Brooklyn.
Mamdani said they were "our friends and our neighbours. Our parents and our children.
"Young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and beyond."
The consul general of Ecuador visited the site and confirmed that two victims are Ecuadorian nationals, the New York Times reported.
Gicela Andrade told the newspaper that Cosquillo will be flown back to Ecuador for burial.
More than 250 firefighters responded to the collapse, working through the night to locate trapped victims.
Reporters at the scene described the chaos, which occurred on a normally busy avenue of Brooklyn.
The head of the New York Department of Buildings, Ahmed Tigani, said in a news conference on Thursday that there were no violations of building codes reported at the building before the collapse.
He said the property developer has ties to at least 100 other sites around the city, which are also now being checked.
One man told the BBC that he had delivered an Amazon package to an apartment just a few minutes before the building crumbled.
The man, who didn't want to share his name, described hearing a loud "boom" sound.
He was shocked to see the building he had just been in reduced to rubble, he said. Within a minute or two the fire department was on the scene with several trucks, and they quickly closed the street.
"I live literally right behind the building", Emmanuella Carilus told the New York Times. "It sounded like a big boom and you just heard a bunch of screaming."
The husband of one woman who was filmed being rescued spoke of his relief to CBS News New York.
"She is alive... I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I thank all of you guys. She's pregnant, six months," he said.
With additional reporting by Nada Tawfik and Madeline Halpert in New York
Video shows survivor being pulled from collapsed building in New York
'How does a building just fall?' Neighbours grieve after deadly Brooklyn building collapsePublished3 hours ago
