A three-story building in Flatbush, Brooklyn, collapsed into the construction site beside it shortly after 4 p.m. on Wednesday, killing two people. Four others were hospitalized in critical condition and twelve in stable condition, and a firefighter suffered minor injuries, authorities said. Firefighters worked into the night pulling survivors from the wreckage and searching for anyone still trapped inside.
The building, at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, had a store at street level and apartments above it. It fell into the open excavation next door, at 2625 Bedford Avenue, according to the Fire Department. The first call came in at 4:01 p.m., and by 7 p.m. about 250 firefighters and emergency medical personnel were working at the scene, a fire department official told CNN. Both people who died were pronounced dead at the scene, officials said, and a police official said rescue workers still did not have a full accounting of who might be trapped or missing.
The rescue
Two people were out of the rubble within the first hour, and news helicopter footage showed firefighters carrying an injured man out around 4:45 p.m., NBC New York reported. To reach one person, firefighters drilled a hole through the debris, then formed a line and passed the victim hand to hand to an ambulance, CNN reported. About two and a half hours after the collapse, rescuers brought another survivor out on a stretcher, according to The Associated Press.
Among those rescued was a pregnant woman whose husband had been waiting behind the police tape, unable to reach her. He told WABC she is six months pregnant. “I'm very happy, I'm very happy,” he said after she was brought out, according to Reuters. A resident of the building, Anderson Velez, told the New York Post that his wife called him from inside the wreckage with their two children, ages 7 and 2; the family was rescued and was expected to be all right. At least one child was among the injured, City Council member Farah N. Louis told Spectrum News NY1.
Those hurt included construction workers and residents of the building. Seven of the injured were children; officials did not give their conditions. Several patients were taken to Kings County Hospital. As darkness fell, the search continued by flashlight, with dogs and drones working over the pile and firefighters removing debris by hand and by the bucketful.
The building and the lot beside it
City records list 1321 Flatbush Avenue as a three-story mixed-use building with four apartments above the store. Reuters reported the building dated to 1930. The excavation it fell into was a lot that had sat vacant for a long time: it once held a senior adult day care, and its owners were waiting for a permit to build affordable housing, local Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn told NY1.
The lot's record includes an enforcement action from this spring. In April, a demolition contractor was issued a violation for continuing demolition work at the site after the Department of Buildings had ordered the work stopped, according to city records cited by CNN. The violation was resolved in October, and the contractor paid $10,000 in penalties, the records show.
None of that establishes why the building fell, and officials did not say that it did. The Fire Department had not announced a cause on Wednesday night. The Department of Buildings said its inspectors were at the scene and were checking the structural stability of the buildings around the collapse.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said first responders “are working quickly to secure the location and assist New Yorkers.” “As emergency operations continue, please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts,” he said in a statement posted on X. The names of the two people who died had not been released on Wednesday night.
Flatbush Avenue was closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue, and officials urged people to stay away from the area while crews worked. New York City Emergency Management and the Red Cross opened a reception center for displaced residents at the Flatbush YMCA, at 1401 Flatbush Avenue, WABC reported.
This is a developing story. Casualty figures and rescue details may change as officials confirm them.
Sources · 8 sources
- WABC / ABC7 Eyewitness News — live updates from the scene through the evening; the reception center at the Flatbush YMCA (November 11, 2026)
- CNN — two dead as the toll rose during the search; about 250 personnel on scene by 7 p.m.; the April demolition violation and $10,000 penalty from city records (November 11, 2026)
- Reuters — the 1930 four-unit building; the rescued pregnant woman's husband, via WABC (November 11, 2026)
- The Associated Press — two dead, and at least four people in critical condition, in its updated report; a survivor brought out on a stretcher about two and a half hours after the collapse (November 11, 2026)
- NBC New York — two people removed from the rubble early in the response; a man pulled out around 4:45 p.m. (November 11, 2026)
- New York Post — authorities' accounting: two pronounced dead at the scene, four hospitalized in critical condition, twelve in stable condition, one firefighter with minor injuries, seven children among the injured; resident Anderson Velez on his family's rescue; scene photography (November 11, 2026)
- amNewYork — Flatbush Avenue closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue; Mayor Mamdani's statement (November 11, 2026)
- Spectrum News NY1 — a child among the injured (Council member Farah N. Louis); the lot's history and housing permit (Assembly member Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn) (November 11, 2026)
