A major explosion caused by a gas leak reduced two residential buildings in Manhattan to rubble on Wednesday, killing two women and injuring 22 people, with a number of others missing. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described the incident as "a tragedy of the worst kind," saying a number of people were still unaccounted for as fire-fighters battled to extinguish the blaze in East Harlem.
Witnesses said the explosion, which sparked inevitable reminders for some New Yorkers of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the Twin Towers, felt like an earthquake. There were 15 apartments in the two buildings that collapsed, de Blasio and city officials told reporters near the scene of the disaster at 116th Street and Park Avenue.
So far the only indication as to the cause of the blast was a call from an adjoining apartment building at 9:13 am alerting energy company Con Edison to the smell of gas. The explosion came barely 15 minutes later, sparking a major fire and engulfing the area in a column of dense white smoke. The New York Fire Department got an emergency call at 9:31 am, and fire-fighters were on the scene two minutes later. "There was a major explosion that destroyed two buildings. The explosion was based on a gas leak," de Blasio said.