A typical afternoon in New York City's East Village turned into a horrific day when an explosion caused part a building to collapse and set the structure into flames and damaging two more.
The massive explosion and fire sent 250 fire fighters rushing to the scene and injured at least 19 people, with four victims in critical condition, NBC 4 New York reported. It was a seven-alarm fire, said Commissioner Daniel Nigro of Fire Department of New York.
According to reports, construction men were doing repair work inside a sushi restaurant located in the first floor of building 121 when the blast occurred. Although Mayor Bill de Blasio said they did not receive any report on gas leaks, the incident was allegedly "gas-related" and is now under investigation.
The first and second floors collapsed and in a few minutes, the building caught fire. Flames, smoke and ashes enveloped the building while people inside and those nearby run to save themselves.
Moments before it happened, inspectors from Con Edison were at the building to evaluate an ongoing plumbing work for a gas service update, which failed the evaluation. An hour after, an explosion was heard.
Perry Knoll, who lived just a block from the location talked about how his building shook and he saw his neighbors running from their homes. He also saw smoke coming from the block.
"I can see really big flames everywhere and chunks of ash falling from the sky," said Knoll.
Another man, Luca Babini, was at his office near building 121 when it happened. "Everything, my shelf in my office and my computer screen fell down," he said.
He talked about how people attempted to save people who might have been trapped inside by climbing the fire escape. Babini also said that many individuals lined up in the streets to help with the evacuation.
Three buildings were damaged while a fourth one was still in flames on Thursday evening.
Just a little over a year, a similar incident occurred in Harlem after a gas leak leveled two buildings. Eight people died while dozens were injured.
A couple of weeks ago, NY 1 reported on the anniversary of that fateful day in East Harlem, as mourners gathered together to remember their loved ones.
Meanwhile, on NYC Mayor de Blasio assured people, "We are not going to speculate on details until we get a full report."