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by MICHELLE O'DONNELL
A giant slab of wall from a vacant four-story tenement in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, collapsed without warning last night, crushing a bodega next door and killing a woman inside, the authorities said.
The collapse, which occurred about 7:30 p.m., showered more than two stories of concrete, wood and bricks from the tenement at 125-127 Park Avenue onto the flat roof of the bodega at 129 Park Avenue, which then quickly caved in, the Fire Department said. Five other people inside the bodega were injured.
"Right when it happened, I thought it was a car crash," said Omar Marrero, who ran out of the bodega when he heard the noise. Other witnesses said the collapse sounded like a massive thunderclap or a loud boom.
Firefighters who arrived at the store were able to quickly pluck the victims, who included employees and customers, from the debris, emergency officials said.
A woman, who rescuers believed to be a customer, was discovered beneath the rubble and appeared dead, an emergency official said. Then rescuers found a faint pulse, the official said, and began frantic efforts to save her. She was taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center where she later died, the official said. Her identity was not known last night.
The five survivors, who were taken to Brooklyn Hospital Center and Long Island College Hospital, did not suffer life-threatening injuries, officials said.
As firefighters shored up the interior of the bodega to continue their searches, an owner of the vacant tenement and the bodega, Silvio Castillo, 50, leaned against a nearby wall last night, stared at the ground and shrugged off questions from a reporter.
His wife, Jessenia Castillo, 28, said she was inside behind the Lotto machine when the collapse occurred. "It was raining hard and the building is too old," she said. "When the first break happened, I heard a crack. Just one side came down, and when it came down, the roof came down with it."
A cook at the bodega named Rafael was taken to the hospital with injuries, she added.
The buildings were owned by several members of the Castillo family for about 10 years, Mrs. Castillo said.
Last night, city officials scrambled to shed light on the building's maintenance and inspection histories. Fire officials said that fire companies in the area had discovered recently during routine fire safety inspections that the roof, which was covered by a plastic tarp, was unstable.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Buildings, Ilyse Fink, said that last December the department had approved owners' application for a partial demolition, but that a permit was never sought.
The department's Web site showed that several violations had been issued and resolved over the years. In 1998, inspectors cited the building for a leaning chimney and a cracked facade. That violation was dismissed in 2002. Ms. Fink could not provide further details about that violation last night.
In 2000, a violation was issued for a cracked exterior wall, and was repaired, according to the Web site.
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