Nov. 12, 2026, 7:44 a.m. ET
Assiatou Bah was sitting against a brick wall as the sun rose Thursday morning, watching as excavators moved more rubble from the collapse onto the street. Ms. Bah, a 23-year-old resident of the Bronx, said she has been here with family members since 10 p.m. Wednesday, awaiting news of two distant cousins who she believes were in the building at the time of the collapse. She’s very stressed, she said, “and overstimulated at the same time. We don’t know if they are still alive, or if they passed, or something happened to them — we don’t know that.” Ms. Bah said her family went to a nearby hospital “to see if they are there, but we didn’t have any news.” Ms. Bah, who studies at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, looked around momentarily as a construction vehicle made a loud noise. She observed that more people were at the site Thursday morning than last night, and quietly said it gave her some hope.