The corner of a Bronx, New York, apartment complex suddenly collapsed Monday afternoon, but ‘miraculously’ injuries are believed to be minimal as authorities still try to understand the cause of the incident .
“Miraculously, no one was seriously injured when the building partially collapsed … Looking at the scene and the surveillance footage, it could have been much worse,” said Laura Kavanagh, commissioner of the Department of Public Safety. Fire of New York (FDNY), on social networks, reported the “New York Post”.
It was around 3:30 p.m. that the entire corner of a block dating from 1927, which housed 47 residential units and six businesses, reportedly gave way, taking seven rooms with it in the collapse.
In impressive images, we can see the interior of the exposed units, whose walls and floors were swept away in the slide. In total, two individuals suffered minor injuries, while residents were all evacuated from the building.
“It is unclear what caused this corner of the building to collapse. And we don’t know if it will fall again. But we are looking for life and that is our main objective at the moment,” underlined John Hodgens, department head of the FDNY.
On Monday, firefighters were working through the pile of debris, using a corpse-tracking dog, to try to locate potential victims under the pile.
For its part, the building owner submitted its most recent report, dating from March 2021, which revealed seven unsafe facade conditions, including deterioration of mortar and cracked bricks, revealed the Commissioner of the Ministry of Buildings, James Oddo, according to the “NY Post”, but none were structural, he clarified
An investigation was opened to try to shed light on the events.
