At least 2 dead, more than a dozen injured, including 7 children in Flatbush building collapse

Hi everyone, welcome back inside News 12. We are continuing our breaking news coverage tonight after a devastating building collapse. It happened in Flatbush, Brooklyn. It has killed one person so far. Multiple people are injured, some in critical condition and people trapped inside. A massive FDNY rescue has been going on now for hours. We have heard Heartbreaking stories, stories of rescues. This right here is new video from the scene. You can see firefighters all banding together, carrying out. We're not exactly sure what they are carrying out, but they're just taking people out of the scene and rescuing people as the night goes on. News 12's Julia Burns is on scene there speaking to families and people affected. Julia, what are you seeing and what are you hearing? Well, like you said, the authorities have confirmed we know at least one person dead from this partial building collapse. We do know at least 10 people injured, four of them fighting for their life right now. Now, a nearby building was gracious enough to allow us in just to give you a better view from the street and from the air. Now, take a look. You can see FDNY and EMS responding pretty much as far as you can see, all the way down the block, Bedford and Flatbush Avenue, some of the busiest avenues. in Brooklyn now now i want to show you a higher angle look of that collapse look at all that FDNY responders over there now they've been responding and like we said this is still a search and recovery effort right now the authorities tell us that they are still searching for people now this collapse we know happened around four o'clock hours later still people running in trying to reunite with family they're still working On this pile right now, you can maybe make out they have dogs searching, sniffing for people. They have dogs going in right now, trying to find if there's anyone left. Now, we know that a lot of families lived in this building. I spoke with one woman. She told me that it's very, a lot of families, young people, animals. She gave me a firsthand story of what it was like. She was inside that building when it collapsed. Take a listen. I heard a loud thump, like boom! When I woke up, I could see light and I knew something was wrong because I sleep in the dark. Like, who would turn on the light? I'm home by myself. Like sunlight inside and I said, what is this? And as I come to, I realized what was happening. I couldn't, I just hear somebody keep saying, somebody's in here, somebody's in there. And you know, he said, you gotta get out of here. And I froze. It's just tough to listen to, and this has really just been an emotional night. We've seen people being carried out on stretchers. Again, it's just a recovery effort at this point. Again, Bedford and Flatbush Avenues completely closed off right now for this investigation. We do know Red Cross is on scene, and we know that nearby organizations, nearby churches are just taking people in, people just trying to process this right now and just recover, really. Again, we're going to keep updating you as soon as that information becomes available. Soon to hear from some top New York City officials to get more information, but that's the latest here in Flatbush. Julia Burns, News 12. All right, Julia, thank you. A slow and precise and a careful night for the FDNY rescuers. We wish them the best of luck and prayers to everybody out there. Department of Building inspectors also have to figure out what happened tonight. Yeah, for sure. It's going to be a long investigation, hours and days and maybe even weeks ahead in this investigation. Now we have News 12's Michael Amort. He is also there at the scene at another location. Mike, there is still a massive response underway. It's been there behind you all evening long. What are you seeing there now? Just the gut-wrenching sights of more bodies being pulled. We just saw an additional two stretchers come in. I'm not sure if they will be bringing more people out, but I just spoke with a source from the FDNY who says they are not slowing down anytime soon. There's reason to believe there are still people in there. Again, they are not slowing down. We have lost daylight, so they're trying to get as much light as possible on that rubble. A little while ago, we saw two body bags being brought out and what appeared to be A young kid in one of those bags is heartbreaking. I can't confirm that right now, but we will be hearing from a few top officials in a few moments. Hopefully, we can get that information to you. But, again, this is a fully organized response from first responders. We are seeing multiple... Multiple teams out here on ladders, on the roofs of neighboring buildings looking down. We're seeing drones up in the air, dogs out. There is a lot of technology and teams out here all hands on deck to get anyone that's trapped inside and For the hundreds of neighbors that are packing the streets and watching this, it is devastating. It is confusing. No one knows how this happened, but it is certainly heartbreaking. Take a listen. As a member of this community, I'm devastated. They just brought out what appeared to be a construction worker on a stretcher, and It's devastating. We're standing here and there's probably people stuck under the rubble or people who are worried about their family members. And you can see behind me just part of that devastation literally looks like the building was sawed in half. There are belongings scattered everywhere. You can see a bed with clothes all over it. You can see a staircase leading up to one of those apartments. It literally looks like the building was sawed in half and it's a dollhouse. It is absolutely a stark scene to look at. We are waiting for that official information to come in of what exactly happened and how many people might be hurt here. So make sure you stick with us here on 12. I don't know why. Like just so that we are Waiting to hear from more elected leaders, but Mayor Eric Adams did speak out on social media tonight, weighing in on the conversation. Take a look what he said. He did mention, you know, that the first responders are on the scene of that building collapse. But he goes on to say that Flatbush Avenue itself is closed from Clarendon Road to Bedford Avenue, saying to avoid the area completely so rescue crews can do their work and do it safely. He also asked all New Yorkers to join him in holding their neighbors and members of the community in their hearts. We do want to show you one video, this is a child taken out on a stretcher at one point. We had reports of our reporters seeing a boy on a stretcher, a girl on a stretcher, and as we said, also the pregnant woman. That's one of the best stories to come out of this, that she was buried in that rubble and she was taken out alive by the great rescuers of the FDNY. A lot of witnesses watching this. People obviously, look, there's onlookers in a situation like this. They want to know what happened. Some of them telling us they heard that building collapse. Here's a shot from one of the witnesses that we got earlier tonight. Walking down, coming down from the junction and walking this side now, I ain't seen that. Everything was normal. They working, construction workers are working there. And when we walking down, walk down this like a block away, all I heard was noise. Hey, a whole bunch of noise. When I look back, I see a whole bunch of smoke, debris that's coming up in the air. I seen the debris. When I went back, the building was already falling, already fell down. It was pure debris. And this was another incredible piece of video. This is Jumaane Williams, the public advocate, hugging people there, trying to offer some consolation, just a prayer, just a person-to-person moment to get people through this. I do believe that is the husband of the pregnant woman that was rescued from the rubble. He was there looking on, just waiting for FDNY firefighters to pull her out of the rubble for hours. He didn't even know if she was alive. And he was right there in that And that moment just brought Absolutely to tears. Elected officials mourning and grieving alongside all those people there on Flatbush Avenue. I haven't seen something like this in quite some time, Kevin. Yeah, it's an incredible scene tonight. Again, the FDNY saying this happened just after 4 p.m. This was a three-story building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue, and it collapsed into an open construction site at 2625 Bedford Avenue. Any updates, sir, about your wife? Yes, I have an update from my wife. She is alive. She's still alive. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I thank all of you guys. Because I've thought she's... I'm very happy. I'm very happy. I'm very happy. That's all I can say. of people tonight, maybe a lot of families, still unsure, still not knowing, still a lot of questions tonight. And we saw that man begging police for answers at one point, and they just had to push him back and push him back and push him back like everybody else was at the scene. But for him, prayer is answered tonight, and from what we know, his wife was pulled from that rubble. We don't have an update on her condition, but she was talking to the first responders. Yeah, really remarkable recoveries tonight. Again, shout out to our FDNY firefighters and first responders putting their lives on the line to... Rescue New Yorkers this evening. Now tonight we are also learning the Red Cross is on scene to assist anyone who is affected. We do know that there is a recovery center set up nearby. We heard Julia Burns talking about it earlier. So if you or someone you know has been impacted, that is at the Flatbush YMCA. That address is 1401 Flatbush Avenue there in Brooklyn. So if you need anything at all, please head down there and get anything that you need.