Crews continue to search through debris for survivors after a Flatbush apartment building collapsed on Wednesday.
A three-story building in Brooklyn's Flatbush neighborhood collapsed on Wednesday, killing six adults and two children and injuring 18 others, including four firefighters who joined the rescue effort.
On Thursday afternoon, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the city would be sweeping 100 other sites associated with five "entities" involved in a construction project adjacent to the collapsed building. Mamdani and Department of Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani declined to name the five companies they would be focusing their investigation on.
”If there is anyone or any entity operating in this city that bears responsibility for what happened, we will hold them fully accountable," Mamdani said.
“We are launching an extensive, whole-of-government investigation into this,” Tigani said. “As the debris moves, we are continuing to document and look to see what we can find. ... Investigations and interviews are ongoing, so all of that information will have to come together once we are able to get a better and clearer picture of the floor as debris is moved away.”
The FDNY Incident Management Team, created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been activated to manage the response.
More than 250 firefighters along with a canine unit and search drones were on the scene at 1321 Flatbush Ave. combing through debris to search for survivors on Thursday morning. Roads around the collapsed building have been closed to traffic.
So far, only one of those victims has been publicly named. José Luis Caguana, 26, was among the eight victims. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and 4-year-old son.
Ewelina Alvarado-Baczewska, who used to teach the son of Luis Caguana, struggled to contain her emotions as she spoke to Realtor.com® at the scene of the tragedy on Thursday.
"I saw his wife this morning. We embraced each other and cried together. It was an incredibly heartbreaking moment," the teacher said. “We are deeply devastated by the tragic loss of Mr. José Luis."
Alvarado-Baczewska said the family had immigrated from Ecuador.
"They are a truly humble, kind, and warm family. I remember Jose as a father who always greeted us with a smile and showed nothing but kindness and good manners whenever he came to pick up his son. I am struggling to process this tragedy myself, and honestly, I don’t have many more words. My heart is with his wife, their children, and the entire family during this unimaginable time,” she said.
Alvarado-Baczewska and other teachers at the preschool have launched a GoFundMe campaign for the family of Luis Caguana.
José Luis Caguana, 26, was among the eight victims. He leaves behind a pregnant wife and 4-year-old son. (Caguana Family/Gofundme) At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said that search and rescue efforts would continue until there was no longer hope of finding survivors.
"We always assume that there are more people there until we can access the ground. So until we've removed some of the bigger debris and are able to search beneath them, this will remain a rescue operation," she said.
Incredibly, a woman who is six months pregnant was rescued from the rubble on Wednesday night.
"I have an update. She is alive, she is still alive. I am very happy," her husband told onlookers, according to WABC-TV.
Part of the wall of 1323 Flatbush Ave. also came down in the collapse, leaving apartments in that building exposed to the elements.
Neighbors were evacuated from the property and brought to the nearby Flatbush YMCA as a precaution.
The collapsed building at 1321 Flatbush Ave., in Brooklyn's Little Haiti neighborhood, was built in 1930 and had four apartment units on the second and third floors, while the first floor was a commercial storefront.
Members of the New York City Fire Department and first responders work at the scene a day after a building collapsed in Brooklyn on Nov. 12, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images) 
Personal belongings are seen at a damaged building next to the site of a building that collapsed the previous day in Brooklyn on Nov. 12, 2026. (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images) At the time of the collapse, workers were excavating a lot adjacent to the property at 2625 Bedford Ave.
Tigani said that the Bedford lot had been approved for a three-story, 64-unit building, but another permit application had been put in for a nine-story building on the site. A stop-work order was issued for that project.
The building at 1321 Flatbush Ave. has 98 recorded violations dating to 1972, according to the city's Department of Housing, Preservation, and Development.
Eleven of those violations are from this year alone and include "unsafe electrical wiring" and a notice to "provide an adequate supply of water for the wet sprinkler and/or standpipe."
Arfan Yasin, owner of Kennedy Chicken & Grill around the corner from the building, has been in the area since 2001 and had customers who lived in the building.
“I think they were digging too close to the building," he tells Realtor.com. "The building has been there forever, and nothing like this has ever happened. It’s very sad. Very shocking for this community.
“That building was strong, had a good stable foundation. It didn’t just collapse. And whatever new building that was going up next to it would have been less stable I believe," he continued.
Kennedy Chicken & Grill owner Arfan Yasin said the building collapse is "very shocking for this community." (Andrea Cavallier) The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, alongside the Department of Buildings and local law enforcement, has launched an active joint inquiry to determine whether any criminal negligence or building code violations contributed to the disaster.
Mamdani said in a statement: “There are no words for a loss of this magnitude. My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.“