NY builders killed in scaffold collapse

Four builders were killed and six more are missing after the brick facade of a 20-storey building collapsed, knocking more than a dozen construction workers off a scaffold and into a pile of rubble.

The men were working six floors up when the facade tumbled into the courtyard of the building on Park Avenue, just north of Union Square, New York, authorities said.

Police and rescue crews were called in from the World Trade Centre ruins to help comb the two-storey pile of rubble. In the darkness, dozens of rescue workers used flashlights and used power tools to cut through the twisted planks and poles.

At least nine workers were injured and taken to hospitals, Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said.

There was no immediate word on their conditions. One of the injured suffered a heart attack after the fall.

A tearful Mary DeJesus was at the scene when her injured husband, Juan, was led out of the building. She hugged him before he left.

‘‘He didn’t know what happened,’’ she said. ‘‘Everything happened so fast. I’m just glad that he’s safe.’’

Work inside the courtyard of the building began earlier this week, police said.