Wilson Street illegal excavation leads to cave-in

From NBC:

Several workers had to be dug out of the ground by firefighters after ground they were working in outside a Brooklyn rowhouse gave way Monday, burying them up to their waists in dirt, fire officials said.

The workers were digging an extension in the yard of a rowhouse on Wilson Street in Williamsburg that was under renovation at the time of the accident, authorities said. Two of the buried workers had to be dug out by firefighters; a third was able to extricate himself from the dirt.

The men suffered minor injuries.

NBC 4 New York has learned the building owner did not have a permit for the construction work.

The Department of Buildings put stop-work orders on the landlord's building and evacuated several neighboring buildings, including a home and a synagogue, as a precaution. Dismissal at a nearby school was also modified.