Building Collapse At 125th and Frederick Douglass Blvd., (update)

At about 9:30 am this morning on St. Nicholas Avenue and West 125 Street the FDNY using all hands on deck for a two-story building under demolition with scaffolds has collapsed onto a city bus with numerous people inside and trapped, and one man thrown from the demolish into the street (see above). NYPD is calling a level one mobilization in regards.  Two police officers were injured. Incident is DWH.

Harlem World Magazine spoke to a woman who was waiting for the bus where the scaffolding fell said “I was waiting for the bus on 125th and 8th Avenue and heard the wall falling, I grab someone a few feet away and ran.” Another person said, “the wall holding the scaffolding was weak and the whole wall on the 125th Street side fell.”

As we were moved away from the area by the NYPD people were commenting saying that earlier in the week, “the buildings demolition did not look safe” and “the men working there didn’t look safe, they were standing on top of the roofs of the buildings without supports.”

Expect traffic delays and bus detours in the area as 125th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue were closed.

Update: Some passengers have been taken to St. Luke’s, but so far no serious injuries to report.

Update: As a result of a building structural incident the following road closures are in effect: West 125th Street between Broadway and Lenox Avenue; St. Nicholas Avenue between 124th Street and 127th Street; and Eighth Avenue between 122nd Street and 125th Street. Additionally, the M60, M100, M101, and BX15 busses are being detoured in the area.

Photographs by Holly.