Firefighters dig through rubble after NYC building collapse kills 2 and
traps people in wreckage
[November 12, 2026]
NEW YORK (AP) — Firefighters dug through the rubble of a
three-story building in Brooklyn after it collapsed at the edge of a
construction site Wednesday afternoon, killing at least two people and
trapping others beneath the wreckage.
Scores of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power
saws clambered over the rubble pile for hours, punching holes through
the ruins to pull dust-covered people from beneath piles of twisted wood
and brick.
At least 17 people were hospitalized with injuries, including four in
critical condition, officials during a news conference. New York City
Fire Department officials said their search and rescue operations would
continue into the night. It was unclear whether people might still be
trapped.
“This has been an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with
precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the
surface,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. “This type of rescue is exactly
what the FDNY trains for.”
The cause of the collapse was under investigation, but New York City’s
buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, noted that when the building fell,
construction workers were excavating an empty lot next door for a new
building.
Much of the rubble from the collapsed building — a mixed-use structure
with apartments sitting atop ground-floor commercial space — wound up in
a huge pile inside the construction pit. Another building that shared a
wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but its wall was
shorn off, exposing the rooms inside, including a bedroom and closets
filled with clothing.
About 250 firefighters were working the scene, Mamdani said.
At around 6:30 p.m., firefighters pulled a woman — still alive and
moving — out of a hole they had dug into the rubble pile, hoisting her
up on a stretcher and rushing to a waiting ambulance.
Additional people were pulled from beneath the pile as the night went
on. Seven of the casualties were children, authorities said, without
specifying whether any were among the dead.
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First responders work the scene after a building collapsed in the
Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP
Photo/Ryan Murphy)
A drone hovered over the site as firefighters dug by hand, tossing
chunks of rubble aside. Rescuers also used dogs to sniff for
survivors. As darkness fell, firefighters used flashlights to
illuminate the area where they worked.
FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the rescue teams were
performing “dangerous and perilous” work. “Every move is
choreographed,” she said.
One firefighter sustained minor injuries, fire officials said.
Phone and email messages seeking comment were left with the
architect, property owner and general contractor listed in city
records as being associated with the construction project.
One resident of the collapsed building, Anderson Velez, told the New
York Post he was at work when his wife called and said she and their
two kids, ages 7 and 2, were trapped in the wreckage.
“She called me when the building collapsed while she was inside with
rubble on top of her. She was screaming for someone to help get my
son out and then the call cut off,” he said.
Velez said he later learned that his family had been pulled from the
rubble alive.
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