Six people are dead and 19 others hurt after a three-story apartment building in Brooklyn collapsed into an open construction excavation on Wednesday afternoon, with firefighters still searching the rubble into the night for anyone trapped, according to ABC7. The Flatbush building collapse is now a multi-day rescue operation.
The building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, at the corner of Flatbush and Bedford Avenues, partially collapsed just after 4 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, November 11, and fell into an open construction excavation next door at 2625 Bedford Avenue. The first 911 call came in at 4:01 p.m., the FDNY said, and a fire company arrived in under a minute. The building, built in 1930, held four residential units above a ground-floor store selling medical uniforms, according to city records.
Six Dead, 19 Hurt
Six people were killed and 19 others were hurt, according to ABC7 on Thursday morning, with four victims in critical condition, and officials said the figures could still change. One of the victims killed was identified by his brother as Jose Luis Caguana, a 26-year-old immigrant from Ecuador who had been in the United States for about six years, according to local reports. Officials had not formally released the names of the dead on Wednesday night. The department said it did not know how many people were inside the building when it collapsed, and could not yet say whether everyone had been accounted for. At least eight households were displaced, according to city officials, some from 1321 Flatbush Avenue and others from 1323 Flatbush Avenue, whose side was torn off in the collapse.
Cause Still Under Investigation
The cause of the collapse remained under investigation by the Department of Buildings and law enforcement as of late Wednesday. Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said workers had been excavating the lot next door, and a developer had submitted plans for a nine-story building on that site that had not yet been approved. The Buildings Department issued earthwork and support-of-excavation permits for the development on September 9, 2026, according to Engineering News-Record. City records show issues were logged in May at the Bedford Avenue project, according to local station NY1.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said units arrived in under a minute and urged New Yorkers to stay clear of the area. Flatbush Avenue is closed from Clarendon Road to Bedford Avenue. More than 250 first responders were on site, and the FDNY said the search would likely continue for days. For more on major accidents, see our report on a bus ploughing into 32 vehicles in Seongnam as 57 were hurt and Bulgaria declaring a day of mourning after fog pile-ups killed 12.
