Death toll rises to 8 in Brooklyn building collapse as rescuers dig through rubble

NEW YORK (AP) — At least eight people have died after a three-story building in Brooklyn collapsed at the edge of a construction site, New York City’s mayor said Thursday, as firefighters kept digging through the rubble to find others who may be trapped beneath the wreckage.

The building came down Wednesday afternoon. At least 17 people have been injured, including three firefighters, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

“There are no words for a loss of this magnitude,” Mamdani posted on X. “My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we have lost, those who are injured and everyone grieving today.”

Scores of firefighters and police officers wielding pickaxes and power saws clambered over the rubble pile overnight, punching holes through the ruins to pull dust-covered people from beneath piles of twisted wood and brick.

Rescuers used dogs to sniff for survivors. Firefighters used orange buckets as they removed debris from the rubble piles trying to reach people who may be trapped.

Heavy rain was forecast for the city on Thursday afternoon. It wasn't immediately known how that would affect search efforts.

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. Two deaths were announced Wednesday and the others were confirmed Thursday.

On Wednesday night, 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.

FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore said the rescue teams were performing “dangerous and perilous” work. “Every move is choreographed,” she said.

Phone and email messages seeking comment were left Wednesday 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.

Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, and Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this story.

First responders work the scene after a building collapsed in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

First responders rescue a person after a building collapsed after a building collapsed in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

First responders work the scene after a building collapsed in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

First responders rescue a person after a building collapsed after a building collapsed in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

First responders work the scene after a building collapsed in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s interim lower house of parliament on Thursday ratified housing measures designed to limit evictions and real estate speculation, a day after a general strike and major street protests over the country’s housing cost crunch.

The duration of the approved measures, however, will likely depend on the outcome of a national election set for later this month.

The leading opposition party, the conservative Popular Party, has said that it will repeal the housing measures of the left-wing government if it takes power, which polls indicate is a real possibility.

“Yesterday, the right to housing won on the street and in workplaces, and I hope it will win again at the ballot box,” interim Housing Minister Isabel Rodríguez told lawmakers, in reference to Wednesday’s general strike and the upcoming election on Nov. 29.

Spain’s government had tried to push through the measures in October after public anger over soaring rents erupted following the nationally-televised eviction and subsequent death of an 87-year-old woman in Madrid.

But the PP and other conservative parties aligned in parliament to reject the measures. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez responded days later by calling an early election.

The government then waited to try again to pass the measures with a smaller interim parliament, where it and aligned progressive parties had a slightly more favorable distribution of seats.

The government split the measures into two decrees, with one measure that appeared doomed from the start being separated into a second decree so as not to put the rest in danger.

The first decree containing a package of measures succeeded in passing on Thursday, while the second decree was, as expected, rejected again.

The interim lower house has 69 members, compared with 350 in the regular parliament, which was dissolved when the election was called.

The first decree passed in a 35-34 vote.

The decree that passed included a measure that extends protections against evictions for tenants deemed by social services to be in a precarious financial or social position as long as regional authorities can’t offer them an alternative residence. The measure will last until 2030.

Another main feature is an attempt to reduce real estate speculation by impeding any company involved in the real estate market from buying properties for less than 70% of their value. That is meant to stop wholesale purchase of properties at low prices, and their subsequent resale at higher prices.

The decree also stops rent increases for rents that already exceed the reference price established by the government’s index of prices for that given neighborhood.

It also establishes a 10% tax on apartments rented to tourists — like those on online platforms such as Airbnb, which have become a target of public scorn — along with a tax incentive to encourage leasing and government-backed loans for down payments on homes for residential use.

The second decree which was once again rejected would have made residential leases automatically renewable by tenants. If owners wanted to break contracts, they would have had to compensate tenants with a year’s worth of rent.

Many lawmakers deemed that measure would have led homeowners to withdraw properties from the rental market, triggering a drop in supply and even higher prices. It was rejected 34-35 after a center-right Basque party voted with the right-wing bloc after having supported the other decree.

“You promised us more housing and have only given us tons of demagoguery,” PP lawmaker Sergio Sayas told the minister.

The PP has pledged to oversee the construction of one million new homes while slashing taxes and red tape for real estate development if they return to power after eight years of Socialist-led rule.

Protestors march through central Madrid during a nationwide general strike in Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Protestors march during a nationwide general strike in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Protestors hold up key rings in Madrid's Gran Via main avenue during a nationwide general strike in Spain, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)