Building Explosion in Manhattan

WCBS-YV

[joeystoy]

Building explosion at 32 East 62nd Street. Four story building collapses and is burning. Several people reported trapped in the rubble.

[jennyjenny]

My husband did that once in a movie theater. About 10 minutes later someone came over the PA system in the mall that housed the theater and said the mall had to be evacuated due to a gas leak.

True story.

[finnman69]

This is a very high end residential/shopping area.

[joeystoy]

CORRECTION: Office of Emergency Management reports that there have been no fatalities.

[AnAmericanMother]

I could see that!

There was a catastrophic collapse of most of one side of a housing project high-rise in London due to a fly-by-night installation of a gas stove . . . guy cracked the fitting by overtightening. Lady got up one morning, turned on the stove, and POW.

Ronan Point disaster report. The collapse was exacerbated by poor design and construction of "prefab" units - there was no support redundancy, and necessary linkage hardware was not installed or installed improperly, and lazy contractors left voids filled with rubbish instead of the required rebar and cement.

[CedarDave]

WNBC now reporting a fifth alarm called for the scene. Pictures show building completely flattened.

[Panzerlied]

Man, I used to live 4 blocks from there!

[SE Mom]

Hey former neighbor! I was 54th and 1st...

[finnman69]

used to be a 5.5 million dollar home

http://www.zillow.com/aerial/DualMapPage.htm?zpid=31533263

[COBOL2Java]

That occurred to a house in northern virginia. The ground became saturated with natural gas from where a backhoe nicked a line, and over time, the gas finally made its way through a basement sump crock, over to the water heater pilot light. Decimated the one-year old home and killed the family inside.

I remember that. Not too far from where I live. There literally was NOTHING left of the house.

[TomGuy]

Live 4 NBC reporting that this may have been a suicide attempt by a doctor in the building. He may have been playing with or attempting use a gas tank when the explosion occurred.

[tiredoflaundry]

Whoa!

[Jeff Head]

Local station in NYC reporting possible suicide attempt by one of the Doctors...who survived and is in the hospital. Unamed sources at several agencies.

[CedarDave]

WNBC says the blast may have been a suicide attempt by one of the doctors who lived in the building!!

[TomGuy]

DHS does not know the cause of the explosion but says it's not terrorist related.

I've said many times that officials would have told us 9-11 was a terrible airplane accident had it not been for that pesky 2nd plane and the one hitting the Pentagon and the one downed in Pennsylvania.

[SE Mom]

YIKES!

That is BIZARRE...

[AmericanMade1776]

Is the Doctor's name Mohammed?

[joeystoy]

Dr. Nicholas Bartha, Emergency Medical Specialist, is the owner of the building and was rescued from underneath the wreckage after calling 911 on his cell phone. Authorities are reporting that one of the survivors was going through a nasty custody battle and threatened to do something like this. There is a a note and an email describing the plan.

[meanie monster]

Prayers to the injured....

[Diddle E. Squat]

I've said many times that officials would have told us 9-11 was a terrible airplane accident had it not been for that pesky 2nd plane and the one hitting the Pentagon and the one downed in Pennsylvania.

Morons like to repeat themselves.

[Roccus]

Looking like I was wrong.