OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:06 PM – Saturday, February 3, 2024
A worker has died after a home that was being illegally built collapsed.
On Friday, Brooklyn, New York city officials said that a man died after a two-story home collapse.
Just after noon, first responders arrived at 1266 50th Street, near 13th Avenue, in Borough Park and discovered the 33-year-old construction worker unconscious.
According to officials, the man was working on the house when the basement’s first floor suddenly collapsed, pinning him beneath the rubble.
Assistant Chief Joseph Ferrante stated that the floor collapser is in a “v shape.”
“The floor collapsed… was in a V shape, the middle of the floor collapsed and came down on top of the victim,” Ferrante said.
He continued, stating that the worker was pronounced dead at the scene.
The identity of the man has not yet been publicly released, as family members are still being notified of his passing.
News reports stated that they were informed by site employees that they had been contracted to build a “front-framing Jewish synagogue.”
But according to Department of Buildings Commissioner James Oddo, the construction was happening in defiance of a “stop work order” that was put in place on the property on January 4th in response to an earlier complaint.
“This fatality absolutely should not have happened. They should not have been doing this work, let alone having a bobcat inside this structure,” Oddo told reporters at the site of the collapse. “There could be multiple fines at this location. So the amount may end up in six figures.”
Officials stated that investigators are working to determine what caused the building to collapse.
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