No victims found after seven-story building partially collapses in Bronx

No victims were found hours after a seven-story residential building in the Bronx partially collapsed Monday afternoon and crews searched through a mountain of rubble, officials said.

Two people suffered minor injuries during evacuation, the fire department said Monday evening. Debris was 12 feet high in some places.

"Miraculously, no one was severely injured at the partial building collapse at 1915 Billingsley Terrace. From looking at the scene and surveillance footage, it could have been so much worse," Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh said in a post on X.

The fire department said all people were evacuated from the partially collapsed building at 1915 Billingsley Terrace. The building has 47 residential units and six businesses.

New York police received a call at 3:38 p.m. of a partial building collapse, the department confirmed to USA TODAY. Images showed the corner of the building collapsed, with floors crumbling and dangling and the exterior walls gone.

“Due to an emergency response to a structural collapse, please avoid the area of West Burnside Avenue between Osborne Place and Phelan Place in the Bronx,” New York police said.

A worker at a nearby deli, Julian Rodriguez, said he was behind the counter when he heard people screaming about a building collapse.

“When I went outside, all you could see is the debris and a smoke cloud in the street,” said Rodriguez, 22. “And you could see inside the structure: people’s beds, their doors, closets, lights, everything. It was really scary.”

Residents were being directed to a school to get help, and the city was parking buses near the building as a place to stay warm.

James Oddo, commissioner of the New York City Department of Buildings said at a news briefing Monday the building owner last submitted a report in March 2021, which found unsafe conditions, including cracked bricks and deteriorating mortar.

Oddo said there were currently seven violations, but they were not structural. Work was being done on the building a few days ago. Oddo noted the building did have an active permit, but drawings had been submitted to pull it.

“We’re tunneling into that debris pile as safely as we can,” Hodgens said. “Firefighters right now are in a dangerous position. We don’t know what caused this corner of this building to come down. We don’t know if any of it is going to come down.”

Contributing: Associated Press