A massive explosion destroyed two five-storied buildings in New York’s East Harlem neighbourhood on Wednesday morning, killing at least two people and injuring 17 others. Many were reported to be missing.
The deafening explosion that could be heard more than a mile away sparked a major fire with a large area engulfed in thick smoke. The blast was so powerful that it blew up windows in nearby buildings.
“There was a complete collapse; the fire is still going so we can’t make a search. There will be fatalities,” The New York Times quoted a senior official as saying. “This is an occupied building, there were people living there, we have people missing.” Evacuations were under way in the area. While the cause was still to be determined, officials indicated the blast might have been caused by a gas leak. Thick gas odour was reported from the scene.
One of the buildings that collapsed in the explosion that occurred around 9 am was a residential block on Park Avenue on 116th Street, while the other housed a church. Some witnesses thought it was a terrorist attack, some others felt it was an earthquake. “To be honest, I thought it was another 9/11,” a resident of East Harlem told The Wall Street Journal. “Everything shook”, the resident said. “The smoke just came rushing out and you could tell the building had collapsed.”
CBS News reported that the two dead were both women. Of the 17 injured, four were reported to be in serious condition. The network quoted church owner Carmen Vargas-Rosa as saying: “last night when we came out of church, at the corner outside in the street there was a smell of gas. It would come and go, so I thought it was from the corner store there so I went to the owners and told them and they said they would look into it and then we went home.” The New York Fire Department deployed 168 fire fighters. Metro train services in the vicinity were suspended.