The identities of seven of the eight people killed in the New York City building collapse have been revealed.
Officials confirmed that eight people lost their lives after a three-story building in Flatbush, Brooklyn, crumbled on Wednesday evening, and search efforts are still underway.
The youngest victims have been identified as Nicole Daniela Rodriguez, nine, and Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10, according to The New York Times. They were elementary school students and cousins.
Gabriel Siguencia, 22, Mamadu Barry, 23, Edgar Santiago Sapón Gutierrez, 26, José Luis Caguana, 26 and Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31, were also killed.
A 35-year-old unidentified man also died in the collapse, the outlet reported.
Another 18 people were injured, with one of them in critical condition, Mamdani said. Four of the injured are firefighters, he added.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has also revealed that two of the six adults were construction workers who were on site when the structure collapsed.
Caguana was named on Thursday morning after his brother Carlos told Univision that he was a construction worker who moved to the US six years ago from Ecuador.
Seven of the eight victims who died in the Brooklyn building collapse have been identified as s Nicole Daniela Rodriguez, nine, and Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10, Gabriel Siguencia, 22, Mamadu Barry, 23, Edgar Santiago Sapón Gutierrez, 26, José Luis Caguana (pictured), 26 and Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31
Alvaro Miguel Caizaguano Toasa (pictured), 29, was working his construction job when the collapse happened. He is currently in the hospital and is ‘not doing well,’ his family said
Another 18 people were injured, with one of them in critical condition, Mamdani said. Four of the injured are firefighters, he added
He was a devoted husband and father who leaves behind his wife, four-year-old son and his unborn baby, who was expected to arrive soon, according to a GoFundMe page.
‘Now that he’s gone, she is going through an immense amount of pain. She is in a very bad state right now – she’s completely overwhelmed and can’t even find the words to speak,’ Carlos said of his now-widowed sister-in-law.
Carlos later told WNBC-TV that Caguana’s wife was ‘completely overwhelmed’ and ‘can’t find the words to speak’ after learning of his sudden death.
‘Her husband has passed away; he was the sole provider for the family. Now that he’s gone, she is going through an immense amount of pain. She is in a very bad state right now,’ Carlos told the outlet.
Ecuador’s consulate in New York City also acknowledged Caguana’s death.
Siguencia was also from Ecuador, according to the outlet. The consul general of Ecuador, Gicela Andrade, said Caguana’s remains will be sent to Ecuador to be buried.
Andrade also accompanied Siguencia’s mother, Leanor Yupa, to meet with detectives this afternoon, the outlet stated.
‘We express our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, and we stand with them in profound solidarity in these moments of grief,’ the consulate wrote on social media, adding that it is in contact with his loved ones.
Very little is known about the other victims, but Mamdani said they were from different countries, including Mexico, Trinidad, Ecuador, and Colombia
Gutierrez’s family shared the devastating way they found out he had passed away in the collapse.
His loved ones were looking for him all night, and even checked to see if he was at the morgue, Marisela Vasquez, whose niece is married to Gutierrez, told the NYT.
When they made their way back to the site, they got the worst news of their lives.
‘Unfortunately, they told us that he had died,’ Vasquez said.
He also left a six-year-old son behind.
Very little is known about the other victims, but Mamdani said they were from different countries, including Mexico, Trinidad, Ecuador and Colombia.
The family of one of the injured has also spoken out.
Alvaro Miguel Caizaguano Toasa, 29, was working his construction job when the collapse happened. He had been working there for eight months, his family told ABC 7.
He has been vomiting blood and ‘not doing well’ while being treated at Kings County Hospital, they shared.
Toasa is a father to a three-year-old and a seven-year-old and the head of his household. His wife is also sick and cannot work.
‘I thought of my sister because my sister has two kids and my sister is sick. She can’t work. He was the head of the household,’ a female relative said.
‘The construction site was not safe. That’s why this tragedy took place. Because the contractor had a lot to do. A lot to fix. These type of accidents shouldn’t happen in this country. So many families are heartbroken.’
The cause of the collapse is not yet known, but on Thursday it was revealed that the NYC Buildings Department previously determined that the structure was ‘in poor condition and riddled with cracks,’ the NYT reported.
The outlet has also revealed that the company behind the engineer of record for the foundation work of the building is LMW Engineering Group in Linden, New Jersey.
On Thursday, the firm’s office was practically empty and its owner and managing partner, Jieming Wang, was not in, per the report.
Wang has been with the company for more than 28 years, according to his LinkedIn profile.
The Daily Mail contacted LMW Engineering Group for comment.
