At least one dead, 5 injured in New York building collapse

NEW YORK - A four-storey parking facility collapsed in New York City’s Lower Manhattan near Pace University on Tuesday, killing at least one worker and injuring five others who were in the building, the authorities said.

Emergency personnel using robotic devices checked the site for any further casualties after firefighters were pulled back from the fallen structure due to unstable conditions, but officials said they believed all victims had been accounted for.

No foul play was suspected.

“We have no reason to believe that it was anything other than a structural collapse,” City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters.

Reuters video footage from the scene in Manhattan’s financial district, blocks away from the World Trade Centre and New York Stock Exchange, showed a rescue operation getting under way and multiple cars stacked on top of one another amid crumpled slabs of concrete.

One person was pronounced dead at the scene, while four more were taken to area hospitals for injuries and a sixth individual who was hurt declined medical treatment, said Mr John Esposito, chief of fire operations for the New York City Fire Department.

He described all six as workers who were in the parking facility when it collapsed.

“This was an extremely dangerous situation for our firefighters,” he told a late afternoon news briefing. Robot devices were deployed, he said, marking the first time city firefighters had flown a drone aircraft into a fallen building to conduct a search.

Pace University, whose students, faculty and staff use the parking facility, was evacuated as a precaution, the authorities said.

“This building is completely unstable,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters.

The New York City Department of Buildings’ online records showed that the structure at the site of the collapse had been cited for 45 violations, including 25 since 2003, many related to its lifts.

One 2003 filing noted that “ceiling slab cracks exist” as well as “defective concrete with exposed rear cracks”. It said an US$800 penalty had been paid for the violation.

Eyewitnesses said the collapse was swift and without warning.

“It all happened so fast,” said 35-year-old Chinatown resident Thai Nguyen, who is a manager of the nearby Kollectiv Klub retail store.

“Our store is two buildings from the parking garage, and we also have a hotel next to us. People ran inside asking if they could take refuge inside our store.”

Ms Sandy Imhoff, 78, who lives in an adjacent apartment on the same street, said she fled her home when her building began to shudder from the force of the collapse.

“My building was shaking. I only had time to grab my dog and leave the building,” Ms Imhoff said.

“I’m really worried about my cats. But at least everyone in my building was able to evacuate. It’s so unreal.” REUTERS