Follow-Up: After Brooklyn Collapse Kills Eight, New York City Expands Inspections to More Than 160 Sites and Hires Independent Engineers
A three-storey building in the Flatbush neighbourhood of Brooklyn, New York, collapsed into an adjacent excavation pit on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 11, killing eight people and injuring 18. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced by Friday that the city had expanded emergency safety inspections to more than 160 construction sites associated with six entities linked to the excavation project, and was retaining an outside engineering consulting firm to produce an independent technical report on the structural failure.
The collapsed building, at 1321 Flatbush Ave, dated to 1930 and held four apartments. Excavation work was under way at the neighbouring site at 2625 Bedford Ave when the building came down just after 4 p.m. The Department of Buildings (DOB) put its initial finding in writing: the collapse was caused by unsafe construction operations at the adjacent property. DOB Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said his agency was conducting an exhaustive investigation. The city said developers held an approved plan for a three-storey building at 2625 Bedford Ave, while a separate application for a nine-storey, 64-unit mixed-use development had not been approved when the building fell.
Police have released the names of all eight people killed. Two were children: Nikol Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, and her cousin Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzales, 10, both students at Success Academy; Nikol's teachers described her as a courageous, flourishing student. The other victims were Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31; Mamadou Ndiaye, 31; Mamadou Barry, 23; Gabriel Siguencia, 22; Edgar Sapon, 26; and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26. The 18 injured included four firefighters.
The Fire Department concluded search-and-rescue operations on Thursday afternoon after determining no additional victims remained beneath the rubble, with more than 250 firefighters and EMS personnel having worked at the site, and turned the site over to the DOB and the Police Department. The Brooklyn District Attorney's Office, led by Eric Gonzalez, has launched a criminal probe; no charges have been announced.
The disaster also drew scrutiny to staffing at the DOB, which had 168 vacant positions out of 1,855 authorised jobs, a vacancy rate of roughly 9%, according to city comptroller data. City Council leaders called for the vacancies to be filled immediately. Records show the neighbouring site had been issued a stop-work order in March after inspectors found demolition work under way without adequate overhead protection, and that inspectors found work had resumed in April in violation of that order.
Related: Follow-Up: Brooklyn Flatbush Collapse: District Attorney Opens Criminal Investigation
Source: City of New York
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Brooklyn Flatbush Avenue 与 Nostrand Avenue 交界处的 Flatbush Avenue 地铁站入口（资料图）。作者：Jim.henderson，公共领域，维基共享资源。 / Photo: The entrance to the Flatbush Avenue station at Flatbush and Nostrand Avenues in Brooklyn (file photo). Credit: Jim.henderson, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
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