Illegal tunnels under NYC worse than we thought, destabilized other buildings

The illegal tunnel discovered under a historic Brooklyn synagogue compromised the stability of several structures surrounding the religious complex, prompting an order to vacate as well as citations against its owners, city officials said. Inspectors with New York City’s building safety agency uncovered a tunnel that was 60 feet (18.3 meters) long and 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide beneath the Chabad-Lubavitch global headquarters in Crown Heights. It connected four buildings owned by the Hasidic group through openings cut into basement walls. The excavation work was done without the approval of the Department of Buildings, agency spokesman Andrew Rudansky said in an email to The Associated Press on Wednesday. He said the tunnel was empty except for dirt, tools and debris.