A massive explosion shocked New York City’s East Village neighborhood Thursday afternoon, and after the blast, two buildings were swallowed in flames and at least a partial building collapse had been reported.
Witnesses at the scene tweeted photos showing the two burning buildings, smoke erupting out of the roofs of both. The buildings have both old tenement-style structures.
A guy named Christian Smith, who is currently living on St. Marks Place, just around the corner from the explosion site, said he sense that his building shake and looked out the window and saw number of people retreating.
Smith said that he saw people running into different directions and he is standing beside a line of blue police tape across the street from his apartment.
The possible explosion and fire occurred at 121 Second Avenue around 3:30 p.m. and instantly spread to 123 Second Avenue. The building in the video is a mingled of residential and commercial tenants, according to the media reports. The NYPD is declair that you can call 311 if you know anyone who lives in the buildings. And as of 4:40 p.m. the FDNY reported that there are 12 people that had been injured and all are civilians, three of them critically, which they declare a seven-alarm fire.
The cause of the blast was not immediately identified, NYPD said. More than 100 FDNY firefighters were on the fire location and at least one person was seen being carried away from the building on a stretcher.
A police officer at the scene told the media that there are several injuries but could not yet give a exact number. CNN reported that there may be people stocked inside the building, and local media coverage has shown NYPD Dogs waiting on scene to search for people in the rubble once the fire has been completely extinguished.
At a news Thursday evening, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the cause of the explosion was still being investigated and that preliminary evidence suggested the fire was caused by a gas-related blast.
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