‘There’s nothing left’: building collapses in New York

The deaths of two females were confirmed by the New York Police Department (NYPD) on Wednesday afternoon, but officers could give no further details.

The Fire Department of New York put the number of hurt at 24, which included two fatalities, two serious life-threatening injuries, five serious non-life-threatening injuries, and 15 minor injuries.

Two buildings were destroyed after an explosion following reports of a gas leak. The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) said that it was dealing with a “multiple dwelling explosion and collapse” at numbers 1644 and 1646 on Park Avenue, less than half a mile above Central Park in Manhattan.

You could feel the vibrations going through the building. Eoin Hayes

According to the US energy firm Con Edison, a report of the smell of gas came in from a neighbour at 9:13am. The company said that two of its crews were in the process of responding when the explosion took place. None of its staff were hurt.

The FDNY said it was still trying to determine the cause of the blast and that 44 units and nearly 200 firefighters have been sent to the scene.

The blast shattered windows in nearby buildings and pavements were littered with debris, witnesses said.

Bricks and wood

“It felt like an earthquake had rattled my whole building,” Waldemar Infante, 24, a porter from a nearby residential building told the Associated Press.

The agency reported that one resident of 1646 Park Avenue, Eusebio Perez, heard news of the explosion and hurried back from his job as a piano technician.

“There’s nothing left. Just a bunch of bricks and wood.” The 48-year-old added that he shared an apartment in the building with a roommate and was unsure what his next steps would be.

“I only have what I’m wearing,” he said. “I have to find a place to stay for tonight and organize what’s going to be my next steps.”

Eoin Hayes, 26, said the explosion shook his entire apartment building at about 9:30 a.m. He ran to the window and saw flames consuming one building and smoke rising into the air.

He told the AP: “I was in my bedroom and the explosion went off, it kind of shook the whole building,” Hayes said. “You could feel the vibrations going through the building.”