The people who died in the Flatbush building collapse came from all over the world. But those close to them said they shared the same hope: to rebuild their lives in New York.
“We have no words,” Juan Carlos Zabala said of his lost family. “They were following the American dream.”
His cousin, Juan Daniel Sabala, 31, had a 9-year-old daughter, Nicole. Both died in the rubble. Another cousin from the same family, 10-year-old Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, was also found dead.
The collapse killed five other New Yorkers and injured 18 others in what was among the worst residential building collapses in the city’s recent history. Zabala — speaking to Gothamist from Spain — said Friday that his cousin’s wife was still hospitalized and receiving intensive care along with the couple’s 3-year-old daughter. Many other people were also waiting for news of their surviving families and friends.
City Council President Julie Menin read the names of the dead, starting with Sabala and her daughter, during a news conference Friday at a shelter for displaced people.
“They were cousins, they were roommates, they were sons, they were daughters, they were children,” Menin said. “They were Juan Sabala and Gabriel Siguencia, and two cousins who lived together, Mamadou Ndiaye and Mamadou Barry. They were Nicole Sabala and Kevin Reyes, another group of young cousins. They were Edgar Sapon, a construction worker who leaves a wife and a 6-year-old son. They were José Caguana, who was picking up his 4-year-old son from kindergarten, and his wife is expecting a second child soon.”
Zabala said the family arrived in the country three or four years ago and Sabala worked for a cleaning company. But the last time they spoke, Zabala said, her cousin seemed anxious.
“Everything about ICE really bothered them,” he said. “So they stayed cooped up at home, from work to home and from home to work because they were afraid of being deported. »
The family was home Wednesday because it was Veterans Day, Zabala said. He had planned to come visit her in December – but now he had to wonder what had happened to his loved ones.
“I have a lot of nostalgia and a lot of sadness… because I am also in another country that is not mine,” he said. “We came with a dream, hoping for a better life. And in the end, we don’t know what will happen to us.”
Ndiaye and Barry shared their apartment with a married couple, Mamadou Mouctar Baldé and his wife, Fatoumata Binta Bah. She is six months pregnant and was pulled from the rubble by rescuers. A photo of the rescue widely shared by AP photographer Ryan Murphy shows her lying on a stretcher, flanked by firefighters, her skin covered in white dust.
She remains hospitalized with serious injuries, according to counselor Farah Louis, but she and her baby survived.
Balde, speaking in French, said he had left the apartment to go grocery shopping shortly before the building collapsed. When he returned, emergency services and the Red Cross were already there. He thought there had been a car accident until a woman told him the building had collapsed.
“When she told me there was a collapse, I didn’t know where I was, because I know our building borders that site,” Balde said. He said he told the woman: “My wife is inside, my friends are inside.” »
Two of the dead, Gabriel Ariolfo Siguencia Yupa and José Luis Caguana Cosquillo, were Ecuadorian construction workers. Caguana Cosquillo’s wife is expected to give birth this weekend, said Winston Sanchez, who spoke on behalf of the men’s families.
“It is a sad day because not only the building collapsed, but also the lives of many parents, brothers and fathers,” Sánchez said.
Investigations into the causes of the collapse are underway. Attorney General Letitia James said she was willing to help however she could.
“The families of this community deserve answers about what led to this collapse,” James said.
Louis, who at one point had difficulty holding back his tears, went further:
“Buildings don’t just collapse without systemic failure,” she said, adding that records show “one building with nearly 100 egregious violations located next to an excavation site cited for violating a stop work order.”
Speakers noted that the mayor’s office has established an emergency relief fund for those affected and that the Flatbush YMCA is collecting gift cards and checks. Other organizations also mobilized to collect donations.
This story has been updated with new information.
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