‘It’s a tragedy of the worst kind,’ Mayor de Blasio says Wednesday near Park Ave. and E. 116th St. Four people were killed, more than 70 people were hurt and others are still missing after two buildings collapsed following a gas leak explosion that rattled upper Manhattan and shattered windows with a blast that could be felt blocks away, officials said.
Up to 9 people were still missing from the two buildings that contained 15 apartments, Absolute Piano and Spanish Christian Church. Among missing people are possibly two Greeks.
The two five-story buildings at the northwest corner of 116th Street and Park Avenue in Harlem collapsed at about 9:30 a.m., authorities said. Smoke billowed into Central Park and could be seen miles away in midtown, and New Yorkers said they felt rumbles as far away as 150th Street. Closer to the collapse, groceries were knocked from store shelves and debris floated through the air.
Greek musician and entrepreneur Andreas Panagopoulos was possibly asleep at the time of the explosion. Recently he started working from home for an internet project he wanted to launch soon.
Panagopoulos, 42, was living in the building for more than a decade together with his wife Lisbeth Perez who had left their apartment for work early in the morning.
Two of the victims were identified by sources as Carmen T. Tanco, 67, and Griselde Camacho, 44, both of whom lived at 1644 Park Ave.
The only indication of anything wrong before the explosion was a call to Con Edison from a woman in a nearby building, reporting a strong odor of gas just minutes before the blast, the mayor and the utility said. But it was too late.
A tenant in one of the destroyed buildings, Ruben Borrero, said residents had complained to the landlord about smelling gas as recently as Tuesday.
A few weeks ago, Borrero said, city fire officials were called about the odor, which he said was so bad that a tenant on the top floor broke open the door to the roof for ventilation.
"This is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people," New York Mayor, de Blasio said.
one of the people killed in the blast as Griselde Camacho, a security officer who worked at the Silberman School of Social Work building. Hunter, in a statement on its website, said Camacho, 45, had worked for the college since 2008.
Another of the people who died was Carmen Tanco, 67, a dental hygienist. Her cousin News 12 cameraman Angel Vargas said when she didn't show up for work Wednesday the family started a frantic search.
Police identified the third fatal victim as Rosaura Hernandez-Barrios, 21.
The body of an adult male was pulled from the rubble just after midnight Wednesday, according to FDNY spokesman Jim Long. He said the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
Officials said the number of people unaccounted remains at nine until the identity of the fourth victim is confirmed.
Hospitals reported receiving 74 people injured, including one child and one woman who were both critically hurt. The 15-year-old boy's skin was badly burned, and he had broken bones and internal injuries, doctors said. The woman, who was pulled from the debris, is being treated for serious neck and back injuries.
Heavy equipment, including back hoes and a bulldozer, arrived to clear the mountain of debris where the two five-story East Harlem buildings stood. Flood lights were in place. Thermal imaging cameras were at the ready to identify heat spots — bodies or pockets of fire.
The recovery was facing hardship in the form of the weather, which was expected to drop into the 20s with rain. Some parts of the debris pile were inaccessible because of a sinkhole caused by a subsurface water main break, officials said.
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