Eight people – six adults and two children – were killed, authorities said. Two were construction workers.

A further 18 people were injured.

Mamdani said that six people were pronounced dead at the scene, while another two died in hospital.

Four of the injured are firefighters. One person still in hospital is in a critical condition.

A senior official with the NYPD identified the victims as Nicole Daniela Salvada Rodriguez, 9, Juan Daniel Salvada Guzman, 31, Kevin Santiago Reyes Gonzalez, 10, Barry Mamadou, 23, and Ndiaye Mamadou, 31, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner. They were residents of the building that collapsed.

The other victims lived elsewhere. Gabriel Siguencia, 22, lived in the Bronx, Edgar Sapon, 26, lived in Hell’s Kitchen and Jose Luis Caguana Cosquillo, 26, lived in the Bushwick neighbourhood of Brooklyn.

Mamdani said they were “our friends and our neighbours. Our parents and our children.

“Young families building their lives in our city, and immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and beyond.”

The consul general of Ecuador visited the site and confirmed that two victims are Ecuadorian nationals, the New York Times reported.

Gicela Andrade told the newspaper that Cosquillo will be flown back to Ecuador for burial.