Authorities on Saturday combed through rubble searching for at least two people missing after an apparent gas line explosion destroyed three apartment buildings in Manhattan, injuring 22 people.
Emergency workers used cadaver dogs to look for signs of life or human remains beneath the piles of wreckage, while Red Cross workers supplied snacks to first-responders sifting through debris for clues.
Authorities have identified the two unaccounted for men as Nicholas Figueroa, 23, and Moises Lucon, 26. Both were inside a sushi restaurant on the ground floor of one of the destroyed buildings, at 121 Second Ave., when the structure collapsed shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday, officials said.
Lucon worked at the restaurant, and Figueroa was on a date at the time of the explosion, officials said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday said that someone may have "inappropriately accessed" a gas line at the blast site, causing the explosion and fire that triggered the collapse of the three five-story buildings and damage to a fourth, which was seven stories tall.
State and city authorities are investigating the cause of the blast.
No comments:
Post a Comment