One Worker Dead, Four Injured In Brighton Building Collapse

A building collapse in Brighton Beach yesterday has left one construction worker dead and four injured.

Our sister site Sheepshead Bites was on the scene yesterday to assess the damage.

A building under construction at 2929 Brighton Fifth Street near Neptune Avenue collapsed yesterday at around 2:30 p.m.

The structure had reportedly begun to give way after concrete was being poured onto the second and third floors.

Five construction workers were pulled out of the rubble by FDNY sometime after 5:00 p.m.

A neighbor described the noise created by the crumbling steel beams, saying “it sounded like the world was going to end.”

FDNY press officer Jim Long notified Sheepshead Bites that of the five workers at the site during the collapse, three were seriously injured, one critically, while one person was treated on the scene.

Shortly before 6:00, officials from the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) had taken over the recovery operation and begun an initial investigation into the cause of the structural failure.

Sometime after 6:00, Councilman Domenic Recchia posted the preliminary findings of the investigation on his Facebook page, stating “the foundation of the collapsed building was not built in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Building Code and Administrative Code with the City of New York. Reports from the Building Department and city agencies that were at the scene said the concrete was not poured properly, the steel beams were not securely attached, and no engineer was on site during building hours”

At around 11:00 last night, Sheepshead Bites reported that the worker that had been in critical condition died of cardiac arrest at Coney Island Hospital, apparently as a result of his injuries. His identity has not yet been released.