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Brooklyn Building Collapse: Three Injured in Fort Greene Collapse

by Jon Azpiri | June 21, 2009 at 11:47 am

977 views | 17 Recommendations | 4 comments

A four-story building in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn collapsed on Sunday afternoon. The building, located at 493 Myrtle Avenue, housed the Vesper Bar & Lounge. Three people were injured in the collapse and several nearby buildings were evacuated.

Alamonte said the brick building began falling apart, for no apparent reason, at about 2 p.m.

"It fully collapsed from one second to another. First a couple bricks fell down and then the whole front fell down. Floor by floor it went down," said Alamonte. "It's a pile of rubble except the back left corner . . . the back wall is still standing."

"It was like September 11. Out of nowhere the building just collapsed."

It's believed that the building was empty at the time it collapsed. Earlier reports by the Building Department state that the there was a wide crack running along the east side of the building.

Locals have reported that the building has been undergoing problems for months.

Joe Diaz, a 40-year-old butcher who lives next door to the destroyed building, told The Post, "The building has been shaking like that for past six months."

"If you sat in my living room next door the building used to shake. You know like a miniature earthquake," Diaz said. "I guess it shook until it fell. Every few minutes it used to shake."

Twitpic has a photo of the Brooklyn building collapse.

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marefynn81 (not verified)

at 14:08 on June 21st, 2009

These collapses are a plague on New York, and many have never been reported. On my block of 18th Street in Astoria several people have either been driven from apartments or have had their entire house demolished by incompetent or corrupt building practices.

boys (not verified)

at 18:45 on June 21st, 2009

It was like Sept. 11th? Give me a fucking break you drama queens! New York is a shit hole and it's poorly maintained buildings and corrupt building inspectors are exactly why this happens.

Get over it already. Maybe NY should collectively decide it's tired of being the armpit of America and make some changes that really matter instead of worrying about passing laws that make it illegal to cross the street while listening to your iPod.

digirose

at 06:37 on June 22nd, 2009

Hey Boys, why are you so all fired up? There's no need for the french!!! Please do not refer to Sept 11th in connection with an old building falling down. What's more New York is not like you say; it is one of the greatest cities in America. She has problems, yes, so if you're talking from personal experience you should do something to help solve them.

Yuliya Talmazan

at 18:56 on June 21st, 2009

UPDATE:

BNO reports:

Rescue workers initially reported that 3 people were missing following the collapse but have since said everyone is accounted for. Emergency workers were treating a total of 3 people with minor injuries. Searches of the building are continuing to make sure no one is trapped.