Two people were killed and at least 17 others were injured, including seven children, when a building collapsed on the edge of a construction site in New York City on Wednesday, officials said, prompting a frantic search by firefighters combing through large piles of debris. The four-unit apartment building dating from 1930 collapsed around 4 p.m. near the intersection of Bedford and Flatbush avenues in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, the FDNY said. It was not known what caused or led to this. The FDNY said two people were pulled from the rubble shortly after the collapse. Aerial video showed dozens of firefighters searching for other people, at least two of whom were trapped in the rubble. A top city official later said those two were in the process of being released just before 5:00 p.m. Two people died and four of the injured were in critical condition, FDNY officials said at a news conference Wednesday night. Seven children and a firefighter were among the injured, according to the FDNY. The fire department said the death toll could rise as it was not known how many people were in the building when it collapsed or if everyone had been accounted for. FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the number could change “by the minute” as the operation, which is expected to last days, continues. “This is a very fragile situation here… We will continue to search until we find everyone,” Bonsignore said, noting that The victims included construction workers and those who were inside the building at the time. The FDNY did not share the ages or identities of the two people killed, nor did it say whether any children died. One man told NBC New York that his brother, José Luis Caguana, died in the collapse. The 26-year-old Ecuadorian immigrant had been in the United States for about six years, his brother said, working in construction to support his family. Caguana’s wife, who is pregnant and due to give birth very soon, was too distraught to speak to reporters on camera. The couple also has another young son. “Her husband passed away; he was the only breadwinner in the family. Now that he’s gone, she is going through immense pain. She is in very bad shape right now; she is completely overwhelmed and can’t even find the words to speak,” Caguana’s brother Carlos said in Spanish. Video from NBC New York’s Chopper 4 showed firefighters pulling an injured person from the rubble around 4:45 p.m. away on a stretcher. Another person was seen being carried away on a stretcher shortly after 6.30pm. The building that collapsed appeared to be three stories high, with a business on the ground floor. It was next to an excavation site after a one-story building that had been there previously was completely demolished.
