FDNY: Workers recover body from rubble of NYC parking garage 

Rescuers late Wednesday recovered the body of a person killed a day earlier when a parking garage collapsed in lower Manhattan, as crews continued to search the rubble and worked to identify the cause, according to the FDNY.

The remains were transferred to the New York City Medical Examiner's Office after being pulled from the wreckage by firefighters and police officers, the FDNY press office said in an email. The victim, whose identity hasn't been determined, had been in the rubble for more than a day. Mayor Eric Adams' office said earlier Wednesday that the body would be removed when it was safe to enter the disaster site. 

Efforts were ongoing to search for additional victims or remains, including by sifting through debris and checking every vehicle once it was removed, the mayoral statement said.

No victim names have been disclosed, including those of the five people who were injured.

The garage is owned by a corporate entity, 57 Ann Street Realty Associates, Inc., according to the city’s Department of Finance database. The chief executive is Alan Henick of Laurel Hollow, according to the New York Department of State's Division of Corporations database. Henick couldn’t be reached for comment late Wednesday.

At the time of the collapse, there were as many as 90 vehicles in the garage and on its roof. The structure was too precarious to keep firefighters inside once surviving victims were removed following the cave-in, just after 4 p.m. Tuesday. 

“Right now, we’re transitioning to how we safely take down that building, and it’s incredibly complex," said Zachary Iscol, Adams’ head of emergency management. "There’s over 50 cars on the roof. The building is not structurally sound. You think about hazardous materials that are in the garage, right? Gas tanks, fluids, further complicated by the fact that there are possibly some electric vehicles in that garage.” 

The collapse is being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, spokeswoman Kay Nguyen said late Wednesday.

As of Wednesday afternoon, a "substantial part" of the front of the building and six cars had been removed, the statement said, with more work to be done in the coming days.

A buildings department inspection found that the roof, the third floor, and the second floor had all collapsed into the building's footprint, the rear wall partially collapsed and the front wall was "bulging," the statement said.

Adams said there would be an investigation by the department and others to ensure "if there’s something we can put in place to prevent something like this from happening, we will.”

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.