NEW YORK: Nineteen people were hurt Thursday when three New York buildings collapsed and a blaze tore through another in what preliminary indications suggested was a gas-related explosion.
Four people were critically injured after the blast ripped through a commercial and residential building in the popular East Village and then partly collapsed, triggering the collapse of the next-door building, the partial collapse of another and a huge blaze.
Dramatic cell phone footage broadcast by TV channel PIX11 showed panicked people running in fear from a sushi restaurant after the explosion.
“What happened? Oh my God!” one woman is heard yelling. Bystanders bend over a person lying amid debris. Witnesses several blocks away described hearing a loud bang and thick smoke could be seen wafting high over the Manhattan skyline.
“It was crazy loud. The windows were shaking,” said Philip McElroy, a 23-year-old student, who was visiting a friend two blocks away. “There was a lot of smoke and part of the building was blown out.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the initial impact appeared to have been caused by plumbing and gas work at the site.
The incident quickly heightened safety fears, a year after eight people were killed when a gas explosion leveled two apartment buildings in East Harlem in northern Manhattan on March 12, 2014.
“Our thoughts, our prayers are with everyone of them (the casualties) and of course we are praying that no other individuals are found injured and that there are no fatalities,” de Blasio told a news conference.
A fire department spokesman raised the number of casualties from 12 to 19, including four people in a critical condition.
The department said 121 Second Avenue, scene of the initial explosion, partially collapsed, as did another building, while 123 Second Avenue went entirely and fire ravaged a fourth property.
Pommes Frites, a shop selling Belgian-style fries at 123 Second Avenue, said on Twitter it was closed until further notice due to ‘severe damage’, but said its staff and customers were safe.
More than five hours after the incident, over 200 fire fighters were still working to control pockets of fire, the fire department said. — AFP