A pregnant woman was pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building in Brooklyn, prompting an emotional outpouring from her husband at the rescue scene.
The six-months-pregnant woman’s unidentified husband was seen sobbing as he embraced NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams after learning she had survived the collapse.
“I have an update. She is alive, she is still alive. I am very happy,” he said, according to ABC News.
When reports of the building collapse emerged shortly after 4pm on Wednesday, the man raced along Flatbush Avenue in a desperate attempt to find his wife.
According to the outlet, he initially tried to push through the emergency response area to reach her before first responders led him away from the danger zone.
As rescue teams worked into the evening, he repeatedly pleaded with officials and reporters for news about his wife.
“I’ve heard nothing. She’s inside the building. She’s pregnant,” he said.
Video showed a man being removed from the rubble at approximately 4.45pm and taken away on a stretcher.
The husband was seen holding NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams while crying with relief after his six-months-pregnant wife was found alive following the Flatbush building collapse
Drone footage showed a woman, later identified as the man’s wife, being carried alive from the collapse site at around 6.30pm with a blue blanket covering her stomach
The man ran down Flatbush Avenue after hearing that the building had collapsed shortly after 4pm on Wednesday
The rescue offered a rare moment of relief during a tragic day in Brooklyn, where NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that two people had died
Nearly two and a half hours after the collapse, at about 6.30pm, the husband was finally told that his wife had been located and brought out of the wreckage.
Aerial footage showed rescuers carrying a woman from the site on a stretcher, with a blue blanket placed over her abdomen.
She was transported to hospital by ambulance. After learning that she had survived, her husband told the outlet: “I’m very happy. I want to thank all of you guys.”
The rescue provided a moment of hope amid a devastating day in Brooklyn. Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed that two people had died in the collapse.
Officials said 17 others were injured, including seven children and one firefighter. The injuries ranged from critical to less serious.
The three-story residential building fell into an active construction area just after 4pm, trapping several people beneath the debris, including workers at the site, according to the FDNY.
Mamdani described the incident as “devastating,” adding: “This has been an incredibly challenging and fast-moving situation, with precarious wreckage to navigate and dangerous voids beneath the surface.”
More than 250 firefighters and emergency workers responded, the mayor said, and “worked tirelessly to secure the scene and rescue those who were trapped.”
Officials said 17 people were injured, among them seven children and a firefighter, with some suffering critical injuries and others hurt less seriously
The three-story residential building collapsed into an active construction site shortly after 4pm, trapping residents and workers beneath the wreckage
More than 250 firefighters and emergency personnel responded and “worked tirelessly to secure the scene and rescue those who were trapped”
FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said crews faced “dangerous and perilous” conditions and “have not stopped since they arrived this afternoon”
Drone video captured firefighters searching through the wreckage by hand and throwing pieces of debris aside. Search dogs were also brought in to look for possible survivors.
“This was a major technical response… multiple people from the building and the construction site were trapped,” FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said.
“[First responders] encountered dangerous and perilous conditions [and] have been working methodically and have not stopped since they arrived this afternoon.”
Anderson Velez, who lived in the collapsed building, told the New York Post that he was at work when his wife called to say their two children, aged seven and two, were trapped under the debris.
“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 later learned that his wife and children had been rescued and were alive.
The final number of injured people was not immediately known, while the cause of the collapse remained under investigation, FDNY Chief of Department John Esposito said.
The mixed-use building contained apartments above a ground-floor business and stood beside a lot where a one-story structure had been demolished for a construction project, the Associated Press reported.
A construction worker embraces a child near the scene of the Brooklyn building collapse
The mixed-use building, with apartments above a business, stood on the edge of a lot where a one-story structure had been removed for a construction project
Emergency crews work through the aftermath of the Brooklyn building collapse
Excavation work had been taking place before the collapse, leaving the site filled with timber and bricks from the fallen building
One man was rescued at about 4.45pm, while two more people were found and removed roughly two hours later
Excavation work was underway at the site before the incident, and the collapsed building sent wood and bricks spilling across the construction area.
New York State Representative Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn told NY1 that the lot had been empty for an extended period and had previously housed a senior adult day-care facility.
“They were waiting for a permit to build affordable housing,” she said. “We don’t know the details in terms of why the building collapsed but all I know is it’s probably been neglected.”
City records show that a contractor received a violation in April relating to work on the vacant lot beside the collapsed structure.
The Department of Buildings cited a demolition contractor after inspectors determined that demolition had continued despite a city directive ordering the work to stop, CBS News reported.
The violation has since been marked resolved, though the record does not explain why the original stop-work order was issued.
Officials told the outlet that plans had been approved for a new three-story building on the lot.
A neighboring building that shared a wall with the collapsed structure remained standing, but sections of its exterior had been ripped away. The damage exposed rooms inside, including a bedroom and closets containing clothing.
Rescuers found people trapped inside the adjacent building and “immediately took action and removed those people from danger”
The neighboring building survived the collapse, although sections of its walls were torn away, exposing a bedroom and closets filled with clothes
Firefighters searched the rubble by hand while rescue dogs were used to detect signs of survivors
Rescuers also discovered people trapped in the adjacent building. They “immediately took action and removed those people from danger,” Esposito said.
Earlier, the mayor said his office would release further information “as soon as we can confirm it.”
“As emergency operations continue, please join me in holding our neighbors and the members of this community in our hearts,” he wrote on X.
Governor Kathy Hochul said: “My heart breaks for the family who lost a loved one in today’s building collapse in Brooklyn. I’m keeping them in my thoughts and praying for everyone affected.”
“My administration has reached out and offered its full support as authorities investigate what happened,” she added.
