TV anchors cut off mid-sentence and evacuate as nearby building threatens collapse

A PIX 11 anchor cut himself off mid-sentence Tuesday and fled the studio as the building directly across from his newsroom teetered on the edge of collapse.

PIX 11 anchor Dan Mannarino was on the air covering the crisis at 235 East 42nd Street — the former Pfizer headquarters, now a construction site — when the order came down.

"We are being told that we have to evacuate the building right now," Mannarino told viewers, "which is right across the street from this building in question."

"We are gonna have to evacuate the building, reestablish all of this equipment and everything outside to come back on the air," he said. "But we're gonna have to take a brief pause right now as we're being told to evacuate the Daily News Building, which is right across from this building in question. We just gotta keep everybody safe."

"Absolutely," co-anchor Vanessa Freeman agreed.

Then Mannarino started his next sentence — and the broadcast went silent.

The crisis began just before 8 a.m., when construction workers at 235 East 42nd Street spotted structural support beams buckling on the 21st floor and got out.

The New York City Fire Department arrived to find that two columns had buckled and floors were sagging from the 21st to the 26th floor of the 38-story tower, which is being converted from offices to apartments.

Several neighboring buildings were evacuated, including a school with about 400 students.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D-NY) said at a news conference that assessments were happening "minute by minute."

"I've been in construction 21 years, and I've never seen a beam bent in half," a union ironworkers representative told Fox 5 NY from the scene. "So this is super dangerous."

PIX 11 said it would continue coverage on social media and its streaming partner, NewsNation.