Rescue operations end after Brooklyn building collapse that killed 8, investigation ongoing

New video from inside an apartment shows the moment a Brooklyn building collapsed Wednesday.

Anderson Velez shared the video with CBS News New York's Allen Devlin.

Velez said he was not home when the collapse happened, but his wife and two children were.

He said his family was rescued. Velez said his wife and 9-year-old son are in the hospital, and his 2-year-old son was not hurt.

Click here to watch.

With the recovery efforts by the FDNY now completed, the pain of those impacted by the deadly Brooklyn building collapse is just getting started.

One of those now forced to cope is Segundo Iza, who told CBS News New York in Spanish that his friend, 26-year-old Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, was a construction worker at the site and died in the collapse.

Iza said Cosquillo had a 5-year-old daughter and a wife, who is pregnant.

"This is a devastating tragedy for New York, and our prayers are with those who are recovering in the hospital and those who have died. The FDNY mourns with those families," FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.

According to family members, Alvaro Miguel Caizaguano Toasa, who was working at the construction site, is hospitalized with a head injury.

His cousin Vanessa Muevecela has been in and out of the hospital to check on him.

"We all have family members that they're always working in construction, so it's sad because you never know when they go to work and this kind of things are going to happen," she said. "So we're always asking them to take care and to always wear their helmets and everything."

Glenn Corbett, associate professor of fire science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, says the combination of age and destabilizing the soil right next to a building can lead to disaster.

"That building is 100 years old. It already had some issues with it, as does many of tens of thousands of these across the city," he said. "I mean, these buildings are old and they are subject to this kind of collapse, and I've seen many in the city that are actually leaning, they're bulging, they're doing those kind of things."

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez says his office is working to determine whether any criminal conduct contributed to this tragedy, and the Buildings Department will be investigating the collapse, which some believe is a bad idea, given its history.

"The Building Department works as hard as it can, but it's also part of what happened here. And so really the city needs to create an independent inquiry into this," Corbett said.

The community is coming together to support the families who lost everything in the collapse.

If you want to help, the Brooklyn borough president's office is collecting donations.

They're looking for new and sealed toiletries, including soap, shampoo, toothpaste, diapers and baby wipes.

They're also collecting gift cards of any value.

Collection is open Mondays to Fridays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Brooklyn Borough Hall, located at 209 Joralemon St.

Townhouse Builders held the city permits for digging and foundation work at the construction site next door to the building that collapsed. The company has been sued at least 67 times since 2012, according to court records reviewed by CBS News.

Eighteen of those lawsuits are still active.

More than half, 37, were filed by workers who claim they were hurt on Townhouse Builders job sites, many in falls or by falling objects. Several were filed by neighbors who allege digging or pile-driving next door damaged their buildings. Ten of the lawsuits involve property damage.

In one case, a jury awarded $4.8 million to a worker who fell 15 to 20 feet after an A/C duct struck him. That lawsuit named both Townhouse Builders and the property owner. Townhouse Builders had contested the lawsuit, saying the subcontractor that employed the worker should cover any damages. It also argued the award was too high.

In another, a carpenter says a steel beam fell from above and landed on him while he was working at a Brooklyn job site in June 2020. His lawsuit claims Townhouse should have secured the beam while it was being hoisted. According to court documents, Townhouse fought the lawsuit and argued the supports were still being put up, so they couldn't have been secured when the beam fell. The judge rejected that, saying securing the building was a "violation of Industrial Code."

In one of the pending lawsuits, the owner of a Brooklyn hotel project claims Townhouse's excavation and pile-driving caused "a breached wall, substantial shifting, settlement and cracking" and "structural destabilization" of its building and neighboring properties. The owner is seeking at least $1.1 million. Townhouse was summoned for the case in 2020, according to court documents, but has yet to respond.

CBS News has reached out to the owner of Townhouse Builders on these cases as well as the collapse at Flatbush Avenue.

The names of the eight people killed in Wednesday's building collapse in Brooklyn have been released.

According to a senior official with the NYPD, the victims have been identified as:

• Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9
• Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10
• Gabriel Siguencia, 22
• Barry Mamadou, 23
• Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26
• Edgar Sapon, 26
• Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31
• Ndiaye Mamadou, 31

Rodriguez, Guzman, Gonzalez, Ndiaye Mamadou and Barry Mamadou were all residents of the building that collapsed.

Siguencia lived in the Bronx, Sapon lived in Hell's Kitchen, and Cosquillo lived in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.

Click here to read more.

The Flatbush building collapse and a litany of other dangerous building problems in New York City over the last several years have occurred at a time of critical staffing shortages that started during the COVID-19 pandemic and have not been rectified.

The staffing shortages are not only at the Department of Buildings but also at the Department of Investigation. And since we're talking about an agency that has had chronic corruption problems for over a century, the staff shortages go hand in hand in making it more difficult to guarantee that the more than 1 million buildings in the five boroughs are safe and secure.

City Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, chair of the Housing Committee, spoke Thursday about the fact that the agency overseeing approximately 1.1 million buildings and 44,000 active construction sites is woefully understaffed.

"They are absolutely doing more with fewer people and it's troubling because they're the ones that are responsible for keeping construction sites safe," Sanchez said.

Click here to read more.

Officials still have not said what caused the building collapse at 1321 Flatbush Avenue that left eight people dead, including two children. 

The New York City Department of Buildings is looking into everything and everyone involved, including the construction contractors next door and the landlord of the building that fell. That building is now reduced to rubble, but city inspectors noted a long history of problems before it collapsed.

City housing records list 98 open violations at the property, ranging from bedbugs to leaks. The building is owned by the Isolag Realty Corporation, and a man named Olufemi Falade is listed as the company's registered agent.

Click here to read more. 

The YMCA on Flatbush Avenue is being used temporarily as a site for resources to those impacted by the building collapse.

Some came looking Thursday for information on victims and others for housing.

One man said he was a friend of construction worker Luis Caguana who he said was among those killed in Wednesday's collapse.

He said Caguana was a 26-year-old married father of a 5-year-old girl, and that his wife is currently expecting their second child, a boy.

Caguana, like many of the workers at the site, was from Ecuador. Earlier, CBS News New York saw a representative from the Ecuadorian Consulate visit impacted families at the YMCA. It's unclear what role if any the consulate is playing in offering aid to families.

CBS News New York also crossed paths with a local man named Stanley, whose friend is a tenant in the building. He said he had spent the last 24 hours looking for his friend.

"I'm so shocked that I hope that his kid is OK. He' like my little bro. Little Ali. He was a single parent trying hard, taking care of his son. He taught me the Koran," Stanley said.  

The FDNY said it completed rescue operations as of 3:37 p.m. 

The FDNY says it has searched the entire site of the collapse and determined there are no more victims. 

The building collapse site has been turned over to the Department of Buildings and NYPD.

The full scope of the tragedy at Flatbush, Brooklyn building collapse is still coming into view. 

"We are mourning too many people who we loved," Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. 

In the roughly 24 hours that have passed since the FDNY was called to the scene, the tireless bravery of the rescue workers overshadowed only by the tragic loss of life they've been forced to uncover. 

"These were our friends and our neighbors, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city," Mamdani said. 

Thursday's steady rain has slowed work, which includes heavy machinery as grapplers lifted debris high into the air and out of the pit. 

The FDNY is still calling it a search and rescue operation. 

The Disaster Distress Helpline is available to provide immediate counseling to anyone experiencing emotional distress related to the building collapse.

It is available at 1-800-985-5990. It is sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

"An event like this can have an enormous impact on people, including survivors, first responders, eyewitnesses, and even those who watch related media reports on television," a statement read.

Callers will be connected to trained professionals from the nearest crisis counseling center who are available 24/7. 

Helpline staff provide confidential counseling, referrals and other services. Spanish speakers can press "2" for bilingual support. Callers can also connect with counselors in more than 100 other languages.

The city's Department of Buildings orders contractors to stop a demolition underway at the site next to the building that collapsed.

City officials said it was because of a lack of overhead protection, such as netting or sheds for properties behind and next to the project. 

Inspectors said a contractor continued the demolition despite the stop-work order. So, inspectors issued a violation to that contractor in April. 

The city said those violations were corrected and they removed the order in May.

Renderings show the developer wants to build a nine-story residential building with a grocery store on the first floor. 

The demolition contractor said they were only involved in the demolition and not the digging that was happening Wednesday. 

CBS News New York has reached out to the property owner and general contractor and has not heard back. 

It's unclear if any of the construction contributed to the collapse. 

Some neighbors at the collapse site a raising questions about whether there were warning signs before the disaster. 

Novella Spence watched the collapse from her apartment window. She told CBS News New York there were warning signs, and questioned whether the construction played a role. 

"The workers were working every day. Every day you wake up to [drilling] for, like, months," Spence said. 

Officials are still working to determine the cause of the collapse. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state is helping with recovery efforts and will assist in the investigation into what caused the collapse.

"When people are in their homes feeling that they're secure and safe with their families to have this horrific incident occur — and for those families who've lost a loved one they already know or are injured and waiting for their recovery — it is horrific," she said. 

The governor lauded the firefighters for being on the scene in one minute and acknowledged their heroic efforts. 

Hochul also emphasized that the investigation into the collapse has already begun. 

"New Yorkers deserve to know how and why this happened. They'll get to the bottom of it. And we will make sure that we support them in any way," she said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed two children were among those killed in the collapse. 

"This has been a devastating evening and morning for our city. Eight of our fellow New Yorkers - six adults and two children - have died as a result of a three-story building collapse here at 1321 Flatbush Avenue," Mamdani said. 

Mamdani said two of the dead were construction workers. 

So far, officials have not given a cause for the collapse. 

Neighbors have commented on the construction happening next to the site of the collapse, and a former FDNY official pointed out the building that collapsed is nearly 100 years old. 

Still, the official cause of the collapse has not yet been identified. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said there are five different entities associated with the construction site. 

Those five entities are further associated with 100 other sites across New York City. 

"The Department of Buildings is commencing sweeps of those sites to ensure that if there's anything New Yorkers need to be worried about, that we are on the scene and we are doing something about it," Mamdani said. 

"I will just underline - if there's anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable," Mamdani said. 

"This is a devastating tragedy for New York, and our prayers are with those who are recovering in the hospital, and those who have died. The FDNY mourns with those families, and we promise with everything we have we will not stop working until everyone is rescued or recovered," FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. 

"Our firefighters and EMS members have been on the scene since 4 p.m. yesterday. We have been rotating them through, working diligently and methodically throughout the night," FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said. "They have been digging through the debris and searching for any survivors. Our firefighters and rescue medics worked hand-in-hand in that pit, finding people, freeing them from the rubble, starting life-saving medical care right away, and transferring the patients to an awaiting EMS unit for continued medical treatment and transport to an emergency room." 

Bonsignore called the effort "incredibly heroic." 

Bonsignore said the rescue effort is continuing. 

"To be clear, we have not shifted from rescue to recovery. We are still in the search and rescue phase. We have moved into a general debris removal, and we are using grappler to move big chunks of the debris so that we can search beneath them," Bonsignore said. 

"This has been a very dark evening and morning for our city. We are mourning too many people who we loved. And as we grieve and as we rebuild, we will do so together as one city,"  New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. 

The collapse took place at 1321 Flatbush Avenue. 

"As we search for survivors and clear the scene, there will be a continued impact on nearby residents. Vacate orders are in place on 1323, 1325 and 1327 Flatbush Avenue. Residents of other buildings further south on Flatbush Avenue who were temporarily displaced have been allowed to reoccupy their homes," Mamdani said. "Flatbush Avenue remains closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue." 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday's rain is making efforts at the collapse site more challenging. 

"Conditions will grow more challenging today with the rain, but operations will continue," Mamdani said. 

Click here to check the complete First Alert Weather forecast. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani provided an update on the collapse Thursday at around noon. 

Mamdani said six of the eight fatalities died at the scene of the collapse, and two others died at the hospital. Eighteen others were injured, including 14 civilians and four firefighters. One person is in critical condition. 

Two of the people who were killed were construction workers, Mamdani said. 

"Construction workers who had only barely survived themselves turned back and dug people out of the rubble. People are alive today because of their heroism yesterday," Mamdani said. Firefighters were on the scene in less than one minute after the first 911 call came in." 

The Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center said they are working with community partners to identify ways to support anyone impacted by the collapse. 

"Brooklyn is a community built on grit and compassion that comes together in moments of crisis. As a member of this community, we stand with our neighbors during this difficult time," the statement read in part.

The teams also praised the work of the first responders. 

Heavy machinery is being used to excavate the remaining debris, all the way down to the dirt.

Excavators are being seen cleaning up chunks of wood, scraps of metal, clothes hangers and numerous personal items that have now become debris.

"The one building completely came down, and the one wall, as you are facing the second building, the left wall that's attached to the collapsed building came down. That's why you can see in, you can see a closet, you can see rooms in that building. And they evaluated that building. They don't believe that building will come down but possibly pieces can fall," Former FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said. 

Nigro discussed the possibility of finding additional survivors. 

"Certainly, people have survived days in collapses around the world. If there are voids that someone is in, they could survive. But we have no indication - we use cameras, we use sound equipment - we have no indication that there is anyone left in there, but we'll continue the search regardless," Nigro said. 

CBS News New York's Allen Devlin recounts a remarkable moment from Wednesday night's rescue efforts. Watch below. 

Residents impacted by the Flatbush building collapse can stop by the Human Resources Administration Access Center in Clinton Hill for additional resources. 

That's at 495 Clermont Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street. The phone number is 929-221-2809. It's open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

HRA says it can help with, among other things: 

• Cash assistance
• Moving and storage
• SNAP benefits
• Medicaid 

New York Attorney General Letitia James shared her thoughts Thursday on social media. 

"My heart is heavy this morning, as we have now lost eight New Yorkers to this tragic building collapse. As our first responders continue to work around the clock, I'm praying for this community, for those injured, and for the families of those we lost," she wrote. 

Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso asked New Yorkers for prayers following the deadly building collapse in Flatbush. 

He said his office is doing "accountability work," looking into what happened and following the results of the investigation closely. 

"The good thing about these types of situations is that a lot of folks, all hands on deck, really come in and as a village see if they can try and support," Reynoso said. 

"I think a big part of what is going to happen here after is an investigation as to exactly what happened. There's a lot of speculation that we want to be very careful about saying what exactly happened and how it happened. Once the  FDNY investigation happens, I think that the City Council or our office here in Borough Hall will start the process of accountability and see what led to this collapse and how we can prevent them in the future," Reynoso said. 

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is planning to give an update on the collapse Thursday at around noon, according to City Hall. CBS News New York will stream his news conference live. 

A storm system is expected to bring heavy rain and potentially strong storms to the New York City area. 

Scattered showers will begin around lunchtime and turn into rounds of heavy rain, along with thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening. 

The stormy conditions are expected to linger into Friday before gradually tapering to a drizzle. 

Read the full forecast. 

Retired FDNY Deputy Chief Vincent Dunn spoke with CBS News New York about the search process amid the building collapse in Brooklyn. 

"It's a very dangerous operation, collapse search and rescue. There's five stages to it," Dunn said. 

The first stage is sizing up the collapse scene. The second stage is to rescue people visible on the surface of the collapse. The third stage is to check the voids and crevices for people. The fourth stage is tunneling and trenching for buried victims, which is currently underway and very dangerous, Dunn said. The final stage is general debris removal while checking for people that may still be in the rubble. 

Dunn explained additional dangers. 

"In this case, those buildings built in 1930 were row dwelling and their stability depends on the adjoining buildings. They were built in a row. So when you remove one of the adjoining buildings, you make that building unstable," Dunn said. 

Watch his full interview in the video above. 

As investigators work to determine what caused a Brooklyn building to collapse, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said he is examining allegations that the property's landlord may have been negligent.

"My office is also just looking into disturbing things we heard," he said. 

Williams said the claims warrant further scrutiny as officials continue their investigation.

The New York City Department of Buildings said its commissioner and investigators were sent to the site to help with recovery operations and conduct structural stability inspections of nearby buildings. 

"My prayers are with all those affected by the tragic building collapse in Brooklyn. I entrust those who lost their lives to the Lord's loving mercy, and I pray for their families and friends. I ask all the faithful to join me in praying for healing and strength for those who were injured," New York Archbishop Ronald Hicks said. "I am grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel whose courage and dedication bring assistance in these moments, and I pray for their safety as they continue their work.

"May the Lord, who is close to the brokenhearted, console those who more and sustain our community in the days ahead." 

The Department of Environmental Protection shut down city water mains so emergency crews can continue search and rescue operations.

Officials said about 100 buildings are being impacted.

As rescue crews dug through the rubble of the collapsed building Wednesday evening, a man waited nearby for word on his pregnant wife.

About two hours after the collapse, around 6:15 p.m., firefighters were seen talking to a woman in the debris pile who was covered in dust.

Within minutes, the woman was lifted from the rubble, put on a stretcher and covered with a blanket. She was conscious and talking to rescuers.

After being shown video of the woman's rescue, the man waiting nearby confirmed to CBS News New York that it was his wife.

"She is alive. She is still alive. I'm very happy," he said.

Read more about the rescue.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised first responders for working through the night under dangerous conditions to look for survivors. 

"I am heartbroken that eight New Yorkers have now lost their lives and at least 17 have been injured, including three firefighters. There are no words for a loss of this magnitude," he said in part on social media Thursday. 

The mayor asked residents to stay clear of the area. Those who are unable to reach someone who may have been affected by the collapse should call 311. Those outside the city should call 212-639-9675.

Pictures from the scene show the aftermath of the building collapse and the damage to the neighboring building.