Brooklyn Building Collapse

A massive rescue operation is underway after a building collapsed in Brooklyn Wednesday, killing at least eight.

The three-story building—four apartments over ground-floor commercial space—collapsed around 4 p.m., shearing off the shared wall of its neighboring building and falling into the construction site on its other side. Roughly 250 firefighters responded with pickaxes, excavators, drones, and rescue dogs, searching through “precarious wreckage” with “dangerous voids beneath the surface” (see them at work). Crews pulled out victims and survivors throughout the night and into yesterday as rainstorms threatened efforts.

NYC Mayor Mamdani (D) said two children and two construction workers were among the dead, and at least 18 more people were hurt, including four firefighters.

The collapse’s cause is under investigation. The building’s north facade was known to be in “poor” condition, and the construction site faced safety violations earlier this year.

PRAY WITH US
To You alone, Our Lord, we cry for help. Heal our hurting, broken world. Heal those wounded and traumatized, beaten down by the wrongness of the world. Comfort families whose normalcy was suddenly shattered; draw near to those who lost what cannot be restored; steady neighbors unsettled by sorrow. Equip local leaders to manage unexpected needs; rebuild any failed systems in New York City, and rebuild public trust in the infrastructure that supports them.

You can turn mourning into dancing; You exchange funeral attire for wedding clothes; You swap grief for glory. To You alone, Our Lord, we cry for help. Heal our hurting, broken world. Amen. (read full prayer here)