NEW YORK (WPIX) -- One person is dead and five people are hurt after a parking garage partially collapsed in Lower Manhattan Tuesday.
The collapse happened around 4:15 p.m. ET at a parking garage that is located by Ann and William Streets near Pace University, roughly half a mile from the New York Stock Exchange.
A Citizen app image showed vehicles piled on top of each other after the roof collapsed. In another video posted to social media, dust could be seen rising from the parking garage with vehicles teetering on the edges of broken concrete.
Authorities said during a Tuesday evening press conference that they believe six workers were inside the building at the time of the collapse. One worker was declared dead after they became trapped under the debris while four others were taken to the hospital in stable condition. A sixth worker refused care.
One of those workers was trapped on the garage's upper floor, calling for firefighters. Crews were able to rescue him.
Rescue crews rushed to the scene to search for victims but the FDNY was forced to pull its members out due to structural concerns.
The FDNY was able to utilize a robotic dog, tower ladders and a drone to analyze the scene.
Multiple cars are crushed, and authorities are still working to ensure there are no remaining victims in the parking garage, which witnesses described as a valet parking structure.
The four-story building was “all the way pancaked, collapsed all the way to the cellar floor,” Acting Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said.
“We have no reason to believe this is anything other than a structural collapse,” Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said during Tuesday's press conference.
Pace University evacuated two of its buildings near the collapse and canceled classes on its New York City campus.
“It felt like an earthquake,” Liam Gaeta, a student at nearby Pace University, told The Associated Press. He said he heard “a large noise and a big rumbling, and then we all got evacuated.”
“I and my roommate always talked that it did not look safe, so it was bound to happen sooner or later,” Pace University student Charlie Franklin told Nexstar's WPIX. “Hopefully they can get their stuff together and Pace can give us accommodations for tonight.”
Other Pace students described hearing screams and seeing cars hanging precariously from a buckled upper deck.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
