'How does a building just fall?' Neighbours grieve after deadly Brooklyn building collapse

Over the loud noise of her radio, Ann Marie did not hear the sound of the Brooklyn building behind her home collapse on Thursday night, but she soon saw the flashing lights of fire department trucks rushing to the scene.

When she made her way out to the wreckage, workers were still searching for bodies. One of the building's walls had torn off, exposing the inside of several apartment homes, and the rubble had collapsed into a construction site next door.

At least eight of her neighbours died in the accident - six adults and two children, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

"Right now, I'm really scared," Marie told the BBC. "Now that I'm seeing exactly this side of the building, you can imagine the fright of those people, what happened to them."

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani said he had visited survivors in hospital. Eighteen people were injured, including four firefighters. One person is in critical condition.

"I want to take a moment to remember those we have so senselessly lost," Mamdani added. "These were our friends and our neighbours, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city, immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and beyond."

It was around 16:00 EST (21:00 GMT) on Wednesday when residents heard a loud boom as the 1930s building collapsed into a neighbouring construction site, where crews were working, according to fire department officials. Two construction workers were among the dead.

The New York City Fire Department was on the scene within one minute of the emergency call, Mamdani said.

Patricia Starek was waiting for her son to come home from school last night when she saw the helicopters near her home. The surge of the emergency responders initially brought back memories of New York during 2001 terrorist attacks. She has lived in Flatbush for 26 years, including during 9/11.

"How does a building just fall into a pit? We all live here with the assumption that stairs are stable, floors are stable, that you can be on your third floor and not have the earth fall below you," she said.

Mamdani said search conditions would grow more difficult with the rain on Thursday, but responders will continue their efforts. Workers have been looking through the wreckage with drones, sniffer dogs, cranes and other equipment.

Officials said they would continue to search the wreckage until they were entirely certain there was no one left trapped, saying they still had big pieces of debris to remove.

The mayor pledged a "comprehensive and thorough" investigation into the construction site and the building. He said city officials had identified the companies running the construction site, and were examining 100 other sites operated by the same groups to ensure they are safe.

Dozens of residents gathered around the building on Thursday morning as debris floated through the air, and they watched in horror as workers tried to find more survivors or recover remains.

The incident has rattled their calm and quiet neighbourhood, a melting pot of many New York immigrant communities including Afro-Caribbean, Hispanic and Asian residents.

Joyette Kerr had been at the scene since midnight, praying with family members who were missing loved ones.

At 1:30 EST (6:30 GMT), Kerr watched emergency responders pull a survivor from the wreckage.

At the church across the street, she consoled the wife of a young construction worker who died when the building fell on him. Rescuers recovered his body, Kerr said.

"His wife was very hysterical," said Kerr, who has lived in the neighbourhood since she was a teenager. "She couldn't take the pain."

She said another man had been frantically going to all the nearby hospitals to try to find his two nephews, but still had no answers.

Footage showed another woman who was six-months pregnant being rescued from the rubble.

"She is alive. She is still alive. I'm very happy. I'm very happy," her husband told the BBC's US partner CBS News. "I thank all of you guys."

Starek, the longtime Flatbush resident, said she was heading to the local YMCA where some family members were gathered to see if she could help - and many others in the neighbourhood were doing the same.

"People look out for each other," Marie said. To lose eight of her neighbours, she said: "I can't believe it. There's a pain."

Kerr said she hoped her hours with the victims' families brought them some measure of comfort after one of the deadliest building collapses in recent New York history.

"It's going to be very profound," she said of the impact the accident will have. "Hopefully this will bring the community together."