NYC building explosion may have been caused by improperly tapped gas line

NEW YORK CITY -- New York City firefighters used high-powered water towers to extinguish pockets of fire at the site of an apparent gas explosion in Manhattan's trendy East Village neighborhood Friday, as authorities reported that two people were still unaccounted for.

At least 22 people were hurt, four critically, including five uniformed personnel, in the explosion and collapse on Second Avenue at the corner of East Seventh Street Thursday. According to the New York City Fire Department, four firefighters were taken to area hospitals and one EMS worker was evaluated on the scene.

On Friday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that someone may have improperly tapped a gas line before the explosion.

"There is a possibility here that the gas line was inappropriately accessed internally" by people in one of the destroyed buildings, but officials need to get access to its basement to explore it further, de Blasio said.

Police were searching for at least two people: Nicholas Figueroa, a bowling alley worker who had been on a date at a sushi restaurant in the building where the destruction was centered, and Moises Lucon, a worker there.

The New York City Fire Department said they will remain outside the scene until the building is deemed safe for debris removal and searching. Firefighters have not yet started to dig through the rubble of the three buildings that collapsed in the fire, and it is unclear if the two missing people might be buried in the debris. A fourth building was also damaged.

A collapse zone has been set up along Second Avenue between 7th and 8th streets, and all buildings on that block have been evacuated. Utilities on the block have also been shut off. Second Avenue around the explosion site remains closed to traffic.

"Some glass had blown all the way across the street, people injured," said a visibly shaken James Cole, who lives a few buildings down and fled in just a pair of shorts, sneakers and a sport coat after returning from the gym just prior to the explosion. "There were some Good Samaritans who were helping them, and there was a woman trapped on her fire escape, so they helped her get down. One guy, after helping her, ran back up, and it was already starting to smoke, and he was checking each apartment."

The FDNY arrived on the scene around 3:15 p.m. Thursday and found the first and second levels of 121 Second Avenue blown out and smoke pluming throughout the five-story building. It is believed the explosion happened inside a restaurant on the first floor, called Sushi Park, and de Blasio said the preliminary investigation points to gas and plumbing work inside.

Inspectors with utility Consolidated Edison had been at the building earlier in the afternoon, around 2 p.m., for something unrelated. De Blasio said the building did not pass preliminary inspection and work could not proceed, but there were no gas leaks detected at that time.

Fifteen minutes later, the sushi restaurant owner smelled gas and called the landlord, who called a general contractor, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. No one called 911 or Con Ed, however, de Blasio said.

The contractor, Dilber Kukic, and the owner's son went into the basement and opened a door, and then the explosion happened, burning their faces, Boyce said.

About 10 minutes after the initial blast, flames began shooting through the roof and quickly spread to a neighboring building, 123 2nd Avenue, which houses the Pommes Frites. Both collapsed, and a third building, which houses East Noodle ramen shop at 119 2nd Avenue, collapsed overnight.

The East Village Resident Service Center is open at 331 East 10th Street, and a Red Cross displacement shelter is open at P.S. 63 at 121 East 3rd Street. Police ask that the public call 311 to report anyone missing.

In a statement Thursday night, Con Ed said it had been at the scene to evaluate work the building plumber was doing at 121 2nd Avenue for a gas service upgrade.

"The work failed our inspection for several reasons, including insufficient spacing for the installation of the meter in the basement," Con Ed said in a statement. "We had no reports of gas odors in the area prior to the fire and explosion. A survey conducted yesterday of the gas mains on the block found no leaks."

FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said that for the first 15 minutes before the building started to collapse, firefighters made extremely dangerous searches of the buildings to locate any victims before eventually pulling out.

"I was going to have sushi at that place, and then I decided to get ramen, so it's only like three doors down," a witness named Alexandria said. "And then all the sudden, the whole building shook, and it looked like the glass was like rubber as it shook, and it pushed me forward. And I ran out, and I saw people climbing out of the building. I saw one woman bleeding profusely, and she was out of it and didn't know where she was going."

Victims were taken to Bellevue Hospital, Mount Sinai Beth Israel and the burn unit at New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

"I just heard a boom, and I came out and saw the fire escape had come off the building and the whole bottom of the building came out onto the sidewalk," a witness said. "Everyone was taking off, and it just, boom, and it was smoke, and then it was on fire, instantly on fire...People were panicking, like no one knew what was going on, and it was very shocking. You could feel the ground move."

The explosion was so forceful it blew the door off a cafe across an avenue and left piles of rubble on the sidewalk. One witness said his son helped to lift debris off a man so he could escape the restaurant where they had been eating.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.