Eight Who Died in Building Collapse Reflected New York’s Diversity

The eight people killed when a building in Brooklyn collapsed into a construction site on Wednesday were a cross-section of the bustling, fast-growing Flatbush neighborhood.

They included elementary-school-age cousins, construction workers from Ecuador and Guatemala, and a food deliveryman from Guinea in West Africa, according to an internal police report and family and friends of the victims.

Six died at the building at 1321 Flatbush Avenue and the construction site next door, where workers had been excavating when the building crashed down around 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Two others were pulled from the wreckage alive but died at hospitals, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference on Thursday.

By midafternoon Thursday, firefighters had halted rescue operations after determining there were no more victims in the rubble.

“This has been a devastating evening and morning for our city,” the mayor said earlier.

Another 18 people, including some firefighters, had been injured, Mr. Mamdani said. Officials have not determined what caused the collapse.

Here’s what we know about the victims:

• Nicole Daniela Salvala Rodriguez, age 9

• Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10

• Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31

• John Doe, 30-35

Edgar Santiago Sapón Gutierrez, 26

Edgar Santiago Sapón Gutierrez, a 26-year-old construction worker, was working at the site when the building collapsed.

Relatives spent the entire night looking for him, said Marisela Vasquez, 35, whose niece is married to Mr. Gutierrez.

“We went to the morgue and didn’t find him,” Ms. Vasquez said in Spanish. They returned to the scene of the collapsed building at about 5 or 6 a.m. and saw emergency workers pulling bodies out of the rubble.

“Unfortunately, they told us that he had died,” she said.

Mr. Gutierrez migrated from Guatemala three years ago, Eliseo Vásquez Talé, his uncle, said. He has a 6-year-old son, and his wife had arrived at the scene Wednesday evening after hearing of the collapse, hoping to find him.

“We came to this country to find a better life,” said Mr. Vásquez Talé. “Unfortunately our government is corrupt.”

On Thursday morning, they returned to the morgue, trying to see if they could identify his body. Nobody wants to believe he is dead, Ms. Vasquez said.

“We want to make sure it’s him,” she said.

Mamadou Bhoye Barry, 23

Mamadou Bhoye Barry, 23, a food delivery worker from Guinea, was pulled from the rubble early Thursday and pronounced dead at the scene.

He had been getting ready to work a night shift when the building collapsed, relatives said. His cousin Mamadou Bhoye N’Diaye, 31, who works for Amazon, was also getting ready for an evening shift, relatives said.

Mr. N’Diaye was still not accounted for on Thursday afternoon, though earlier in the day, firefighters pulled the body of a man about the same age from the rubble who has not been identified.

His brother, Habib N’Diaye, 32, sat slumped on the pavement outside a deli near the building waiting for updates with their cousin, Abubakar Diallo, 47.

Mr. Diallo expressed frustration at the lack of information from the authorities. He said they did not know what to tell relatives waiting for news in Guinea, a West African country racked by political instability and poverty.

“That missing room is his room,” Diallo said, referring to Habib N’Diaye as he pointed to a mound of rubble near the back of the building. “What is he going to tell his mother back home?”

José Luis Caguana, 26

José Luis Caguana, 26, a construction worker at the site of the collapse, had recently found work after a period of unemployment.

While he was looking for work in September, he would pick up his 4-year-old son at his pre-K in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Alexandra Simonian, the son’s teacher, said.

“When the dad would drop him off, he didn’t want to leave the dad, ever,” Ms. Simonian said. “They were very attached, a very sweet kind of family.”

Mr. Caguana, an immigrant from Ecuador who came to New York at least four years ago, was supporting a growing family: His wife is expecting a child this month, Ms. Simonian said.

On Thursday, Ms. Simonian said, Mr. Caguana’s wife, Nataly, and son came early to school.

“She was asking if it’s OK if he doesn’t come to school this week, because of the dad passing away,” Ms. Simonian said. “She was crying, and we were all hugging her.”

Mr. Caguana was also an avid soccer player. An official from his soccer club in New York, Club Deportivo La Bahía, posted on Facebook, “I will always remember you as a unique player, with that special magic in your feet.”

Gabriel Siguencia, 22

Gabriel Siguencia also came to New York from Ecuador in search of work, arriving in March 2025, his family said.

“He came here looking for a better life, a means to live, like so many migrants do,” Javier Ortega, a family friend, said in Spanish.

About two weeks ago, Mr. Siguencia started a new job: He was a carpenter at the construction site on Flatbush Avenue, his mother, Leanor Yupa, said.

Ms. Yupa arrived at the site of the building collapse at 8 p.m. Wednesday night in search of news about her son. She and her husband, draped in a blanket, waited all night on the sidewalk, watching emergency workers haul debris out of the site.

On Thursday afternoon, Ms. Yupa and family members sheltered from the pouring rain beneath an overhang. When she finally heard her son had died, Ms. Yupa dropped to her knees and screamed.

Kaja Andric, Miles G. Cohen, Maria Cramer, Ana Ley, Chelsia Rose Marcius, Wesley Parnell and Rachel Sherman contributed reporting. Kitty Bennett contributed research.