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A young dad is the first identified victim of a New York City building collapse that left two children and six adults dead.
José Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26, was one of the victims, friends told the New York Daily News. The migrant from Ecuador is survived by a 4-year-old son and a pregnant wife.
“She’s heading to the hospital tomorrow for the baby to be born,” the president of the Club Deportivo La Bahía soccer team where Jose was a member, told the outlet.
The three-story building collapsed into an open construction site along Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn around 4 p.m. Wednesday. Six people were dead at the scene and two more died at the hospital, officials said Thursday. Another 18 people, including 14 civilians and four firefighters, were injured.
Crews continue to search the scene for survivors as officials now work to determine what caused the collapse.
“This has been a devastating evening and morning for our city,” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Thursday.
Mamdani said at a press conference that the investigation will not only try to determine why the building collapsed, but also examine other sites operated by the same construction companies.
