One dead, several injured after New York building collapses

One person was killed and several others were injured Wednesday after a three-story building collapsed near a construction site in New York, city authorities said.

Images from the scene showed firefighters sifting through a pile of rubble in front of what appeared to be a residential property with its walls torn down, exposing a bedroom and a clothing wardrobe.

US media reported that some people were pulled from the rubble, including a child carried out on a stretcher.

New York’s fire department said it received reports of people trapped following the building collapse at around 4:00pm (2100 GMT) in the Flatbush district of Brooklyn.

One person was pronounced dead on arrival, the FDNY said, while four were transported to hospital in critical condition. A further six suffered minor injuries.

The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.

The city’s Department of Buildings said its inspectors were on the scene “assisting with recovery operations and conducting structural stability inspections of nearby buildings.”