‘I just really hope they come and get our cat’: Girl’s emotional plea after deadly Brooklyn collapse

NEW YORK, NEW YORK CITY: A young girl has made an emotional plea to rescuers searching the rubble of a collapsed Brooklyn building, asking them to find her beloved cat, which she believes is still trapped inside.

Zariah Coleman spoke during a press conference on Friday, November 13, two days after the collapse in the Flatbush neighborhood killed at least eight people, including two children. She said her first thought after the building came down was about her pet and revealed that she had even tried to get past the police tape to reach him.

Zariah Coleman tried to reach her cat after Brooklyn building collapse

"The first thing I thought about was my cat," Zariah said during the press conference.

Through tears, she explained that she had wanted to go inside the restricted area to rescue her pet but stopped when she realized she did not know what she might encounter.

"He was inside there and I tried to go under the tape to try to go," she said. "I was going to go get him but I realized I didn't know what I was going to face."

Zariah said she was worried that rescuers had not been able to locate the cat because he might be hiding out of fear.

"I just really hope they come and get our cat because he's inside the house right now and they said they went inside the house to try to find him, but I don't think they really did," she shared.

"He's hiding from them and I think he's scared of them and I just really want them to come and get out cat, and they put a lot of lives in danger," Zariah added.

Zariah Coleman says family felt repeated shakes during nearby construction

Zariah, who lived in a building adjacent to the one that collapsed, also said she and her family regularly felt "shakes" while construction work continued on the neighboring lot.

Her account adds another concern to the tragedy, as the three-story building that collapsed stood next to an excavation site. The building had a business on the ground floor, with residential apartments occupying the two upper floors.

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) responded shortly after 4 pm on Wednesday. The building's rubble fell into the neighboring construction pit, with rescue crews working through the night under dangerous conditions.

Brooklyn building collapse kills eight, including two children

At least eight people, ranging in age from nine to 31, died in the collapse. Several others were injured and taken to nearby hospitals for treatment, according to the FDNY.

One of the victims, 26-year-old Jose Luis Caguana, was a construction worker who was expecting his second child with his wife, his brother told WNBC.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the loss during a press conference on Thursday, remembering the victims as members of the community.

"These were our friends and our neighbors, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad, and beyond," he said.

Mamdani had also spoken about the impact of the collapse during a Wednesday briefing.

"This was a devastating collapse, and we know that it affects the lives of many New Yorkers who live here on Flatbush," he said. "As we rebuild, the city of New York will stand alongside those impacted at every step of the way."

Investigations into Brooklyn building collapse

The circumstances surrounding the Brooklyn building collapse are now under investigation.

During a Friday press conference with Mamdani, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings Ahmed Tigani said an engineering company had been hired to prepare an independent report on what caused the collapse, The New York Times reported.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez also said a criminal investigation was being planned with his office, the Department of Buildings and the Department of Investigation.