One killed in parking garage collapse in New York City’s Financial District

One person was killed when a parking garage partially collapsed on Tuesday in the Financial District of Manhattan, said the New York mayor, Eric Adams. Five people were injured.

The three-story building on Ann Street fell at around 4pm, a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge and about half a mile from the New York Stock Exchange.

Bystander video showed cars hanging precariously from a buckled upper deck. A person in a business suit was seen being carried out on a stretcher.

The second floor of the garage collapsed on to the first, CBS News reported, citing New York City emergency officials. Local emergency officials and media said some victims may have been trapped in the wreckage.

“It felt like an earthquake,” said Liam Gaeta, a student at nearby Pace University who said he heard “a large noise and a big rumbling, and then we all got evacuated”.

Other Pace students described hearing screams and seeing cars falling in the building.

Emergency responders and building officials converged on the scene, with police urging pedestrians to clear out.

At one point firefighters were pulled back from the immediate scene, “out of concerns about the structural stability of the building”, the New York City fire department said. Emergency personnel continued to do their best to account for anyone who may have been trapped, the FDNY added.