History for Chron

Rescue crews scrambled through the rubble of a tenement building in New York that collapsed only 15 minutes after a fire had been reported there.

Some 95 people were believed to have been inside during the collapse. Some eight had been confirmed dead, another 29 were in local hospitals and 35 were missing.

Another 23 residents made it out unscathed.

Nine-year-old Joseph Poper Jr. cried and shouted to direct rescue workers to his location in the rubble. He told rescuers that his brother and sister were still trapped.

Nick Sloan, 29, also survived. However, Sloan said his wife, his two daughters and his brother remained missing.

The Rev. David Rea climbed a fire ladder to give last rights to one of the residents who died. From his perch, Rea saw the legs and feet of two others.

Witness Charles Whitecroff said the falling wall “felt like an earthquake” and was followed by the “terrible screaming of children.”

One portion of the building was flattened, the other portion was virtually sheared in half.