Video captures horrifying moment Brooklyn apartment building collapses, killing eight people

Dramatic footage recorded inside a Brooklyn apartment building that collapsed, killing eight people and injuring 18 others, captures a family's everyday routine turning into chaos as the walls crumble and the ceiling caves in around them. The video, recorded in the kitchen of Joanna Velez’s third-floor apartment at 1321 Flatbush Ave., shows her 9-year-old son, Pablo, taking a jug of milk from the refrigerator. Meanwhile, his 2-year-old brother, Joseph, is seen playing on the living room floor.

Suddenly, Pablo stops, screams and runs toward his mother in another room as the apartment begins collapsing around them. His younger brother remains on the living room floor amid the destruction. By the end of the approximately seven-second clip, Joseph appears close to being engulfed by the debris falling around him. However, a construction worker at the neighboring site spotted the toddler in the rubble and quickly rescued him. Joseph survived with only minor injuries. “The baby is a miracle; he didn’t sustain any injuries, just a few scratches,” his uncle, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

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Emergency responders pulled Pablo from the rubble after he suffered a serious head injury. He underwent surgery but was awake and talking in the hospital on Friday. “Pablo is doing good. Pablo’s back up. It’s just a lot of loneliness for him… I’m on my way to the hospital now,” his uncle said. “I’m actually gonna go out there and bring him an iPad or something because he’s just saying that he’s lonely.”

The collapse claimed eight lives and left 18 others injured, including Joanna and Pablo. Most of the injured survivors are in stable condition, while one resident remains in critical condition, Mayor Mamdani said. Among those killed were a construction worker whose wife was expecting a child and two children.

The youngest victims were identified as 9-year-old Nicole Daniela Rodriguez and her 10-year-old cousin, Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez. Nicole Daniela’s mother is believed to be among the injured survivors. “These were our friends and our neighbors, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and beyond,” the mayor said of the victims Thursday. “This has been a very dark evening and morning for our city. We are mourning too many people who we loved.”