NY mayor: Gas line may have been tapped before East Village explosion
NEW YORK -- Someone may have improperly tapped a gas line before an explosion that leveled three apartment buildings and injured nearly two dozen people in Manhattan's East Village, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday as firefighters soaked the still-smoldering buildings and police searched for at least two missing people.
"There is a possibility here that the gas line was inappropriately accessed internally by people in the building," but officials need to get access to the wreckage to explore it further, de Blasio said. He wouldn't say more about why officials believe that's a possibility.
The number of people injured in Thursday's blast rose from 19 to 22, with four critically injured.
"We have two people that we know for sure are unaccounted for," de Blasio said at a news conference Friday afternoon, CBS New York reported. "Two people based on eyewitness accounts."
Police were searching for Nicholas Figueroa, a bowling alley worker who had been on a date at a sushi restaurant in one of three buildings that were leveled, and Moises Lucon, a worker there.
Authorities also were exploring whether a third person might be unaccounted for, Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said. Earlier, police were trying to determine whether six other people reported missing were connected to the explosion.
Flames and smoke were sent shooting into the sky after an initial explosion from the basement of 121 Second Avenue around 3:15 p.m. Thursday, according to CBS New York. The fire jumped to adjacent buildings, causing three to collapse. A fourth suffered extensive fire damage.
Preliminary evidence suggested that an explosion amid plumbing and gas work inside 121 Second Avenue was to blame.
Inspectors with utility Consolidated Edison had been to the now-destroyed buildings about an hour before the blast in the East Village to check on some ongoing work to upgrade gas service there.
The utility said the work didn't pass inspection, so gas wasn't introduced to the line, and inspectors gave some instructions and left at around 2:45 p.m. Con Ed said inspectors didn't smell any gas.
But at around 3 p.m., the sushi restaurant owner did smell gas and called the landlord, who then called a general contractor, Boyce said. No one called 911, 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 both their faces, Boyce said.
Figueroa, 23, graduated from Buffalo State College in December with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a minor in intelligence analysis, spokesman Jerod Dahlgren said. He has been working at Bowlmor Chelsea Piers for the past few months as a front desk attendant and laser tag attendant, according to spokeswoman Leslie Norden, who said employees were deeply concerned for their hardworking colleague.
Figueroa's family said he and his date were paying for their meal at the time of the blast.
"Nobody knows what's happening," brother Brandon Figueroa told CBS New York reporter Ilana Gold. "It has me shaking. It's very nerve-racking just to think about it."
The date, who is being treated for her injuries at Bellevue Hospital, according to her family, remembers only stumbling outside before losing consciousness.
Cousin Anthony Figueroa said the family is praying for the 23-year-old man's safe return.
"I just hope he's okay and I'm praying for the best," he told CBS Radio station 1010 WINS' Kevin Rincon. "I know he's strong and I know he'll overcome anything."
Investigators did a thorough search of the building, but sources told CBS2 they found no signs of him. His siblings keep calling his cell phone, but it goes straight to voice mail.
Efforts to reach Lucon's family weren't immediately successful.
On Friday, firefighters poured water over the wreckage, a giant wave of crumbled brick, twisted metal, splintered wood. Rubble was still strewn across parked cars, and a menu from the sushi restaurant and other debris were scattered across the surrounding streets.
Firefighters using high-powered water towers continued to work Friday to extinguish pockets of fire at the site which is a giant wave of crumbled brick, twisted metal, splintered wood and bits of residents' belongings. Rubble was still strewn across parked cars, and a menu from the sushi restaurant and other debris were scattered across the surrounding streets.
It will take days, possibly as long as a week, to clear all the debris from the area, de Blasio said.
"You rarely see a scene of such devastation in the middle of a city like this," de Blasio said. "This was 24 hours ago a vibrant, bustling street and today people are dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy."
De Blasio praised the FDNY and other first responders for their "professionalism, bravery and courage" during the "complex and dangerous situation," which left six members of the fire department injured.
"We are blessed by the finest first responders anywhere in the world; this is absolutely extraordinary what our first responders did here, it should be a cause for comfort in the midst of this pain," de Blasio said. "This city knows how to handle adversity, we never welcome it, we know it will come, but we know how to handle it."
The blast echoed through the city's arts community, destroying "Sopranos" actress Drea de Matteo's apartment -- she posted photos on Instagram of "a hole where my NYC home of the last 22 years once stood" -- and spurring the cancellation of five performances of the propulsive show "Stomp," which is at a theater near the site.
Meanwhile, Kukic -- who's facing unrelated charges of bribing an undercover investigator posing as a housing inspector -- was treated and released from a hospital, said his lawyer, Mark Bederow.
"His thoughts are with the people who are injured and the victims of this," Bederow said Friday.
City records show Kukic got a permit last June for plumbing, flooring, removing partition walls and other work at the building. According to the New York Buildings Department, a stop-work order had been issued prior to the blast.
Through his lawyer, Kukic declined to comment on the circumstances surrounding the explosion.
"Right now, he's being very helpful," Boyce told reporters Friday.
Kukic is a relatively minor player in a 50-person bribery case that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and other authorities unveiled last month. Kukic is accused of paying $600 in cash to try to get housing violations dismissed at two upper Manhattan properties he owned. He has pleaded not guilty.
The blast happened a little over a year after a gas explosion in a building in East Harlem killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported shortly before that explosion.
The Red Cross has set up an emergency reception center at P.S. 63. The organization says they're helping at least 80 people, including one child.
"Whether folks' need is for two days or two weeks, we'll stand along side them during this period," spokesman Josh Lockwood said.
On Thursday, diners ran out of their shoes and bystanders helped one another escape, witnesses said. Passers-by were hit by debris and flying glass, and bloodied victims were aided as they sat on sidewalks and lay on the ground.
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.