NEW YORK — The death toll in the Brooklyn apartment building collapse rose to at least eight Thursday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, as emergency workers searched the rubble for possible survivors and rain began to fall over the ruined site.

At least 17 people were injured in the collapse, including three firefighters, the mayor said. Among the injured, two were in critical condition, five were in serious condition with non-life threatening injuries, and 10 had minor injuries, the Fire Department said in an update late Thursday morning.

Mamdani and Fire Department officials are scheduled to hold a news conference at the site of the building collapse to provide updates on the situation. A steady rain that has begun to fall could complicate search-and-rescue efforts.

The three-story building collapsed at 1321 Flatbush Ave. in the Flatbush neighborhood just after 4 p.m. Wednesday, falling into a hole created by a construction site at a neighboring lot.

The building contained four apartments, with a commercial space on the ground floor, according to city information. Seven children were among those injured, officials said.

The rescue operation, which was still underway late Thursday morning, involved canine units, drones, helicopters and fire trucks alongside excavation machinery. The wall of an adjacent building was sheared off by the collapse, leaving a staircase, bedrooms and closets exposed to the elements.

Mamdani said the Department of Buildings and law enforcement would lead an investigation into the cause of the collapse.

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

The Department of Buildings said the developers of the construction site adjacent to the collapsed building had an active permit for excavation and foundation work on the lot. The city’s buildings commissioner, Ahmed Tigani, told reporters that workers had been excavating it at the time of the collapse. A full stop-work order has been issued for the site.

There were still people on the sidewalk Thursday morning, looking on in the hope of news.

Here’s What Else to Know

— Street closures: Flatbush Avenue was closed from Clarendon Road to Bedford Avenue. Officials asked people to avoid the area.

— The building: The collapsed apartment building had been home to a number of businesses over the decades, including a medical clothes store and a tax-services office, according to city records.

— Nearby site: A one-story building used to occupy the construction site next to the collapse. In March, the Department of Buildings ordered the property owner to halt demolition work after it found that there was inadequate protection for nearby properties. The order was fully lifted in August after the department found that the project team had corrected the violations.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Sharon Otterman, Liam Stack, Emma G. Fitzsimmons and Max Bearak/Bing Guan
c. 2026 The New York Times Company