'Gas blast' levels NY buildings

Firefighters from the Fire Department of New York respond to a fire alarm and building collapse at 1646 Park Avenue in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City, yesterday. Photo: AFP

A major explosion caused by a gas leak reduced two residential buildings in Manhattan to rubble yesterday, killing two women and injuring 22 people, with a number of others missing.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio described the incident as "a tragedy of the worst kind," saying a number of people were still unaccounted for as firefighters battled to extinguish the blaze in East Harlem.
Witnesses said the explosion, which sparked inevitable reminders for some New Yorkers of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 that brought down the Twin Towers, felt like an earthquake.
There were 15 apartments in the two buildings that collapsed, de Blasio and city officials told reporters near the scene of the disaster at 116th Street and Park Avenue.
So far the only indication as to the cause of the blast was a call from an adjoining apartment building at 9:13 am alerting energy company Con Edison to the smell of gas.
The explosion came barely 15 minutes later, sparking a major fire and engulfing the area in a column of dense white smoke.
A police spokesman told AFP that 22 people were injured -- two were in critical condition and five others in serious condition.