A massive explosion Wednesday injured at least 11 people and resulted
in a building collapse and raging fire in Manhattan's East Harlem,
authorities said.
A Con Ed spokesman Bob
McGee said the utility received a call of a gas leak at 9:13 AM. The
call came from a resident at one of the newer building on Park Avenue.
The utility dispatched a truck two minutes later but it arrived after
the explosion, the spokesman said.
Clouds of dark smoke rose
over the largely residential area of red-brick tenements and small
businesses after the the 9:30 a.m. blast.
Hundreds of firefighters
responded, many spraying water on the roaring blaze from ladders, others
furiously pulling bricks near the collapse.
Metro North commuter rail
service was suspended as debris from the explosion landed on the
elevated tracks across the street, authorities said.
"I heard an explosion,"
said a neighborhood resident named Angelica. "The impact of the
explosion jammed the doors. I couldn't get out the house. It was so
loud."
The New York police bomb squad responded to the scene, according to a law enforcement source.
"Two buildings have collapsed. I hope there is no one in there. It's just rubble," a worker at a nearby flea market said.
Dark smoke could be seen billowing for a three-block radius as hundreds of rescue officials descended on the scene.
CNN
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