Monday, March 30, 2015

EAST VILLAGE DEADLY GAS EXPLOSION: INVESTIGATION WAS FOCUSING ON WORK THAT WAS BEING DONE WITHIN 121 SECOND AVENUE, RATHER THAN ON PROBLEMS WITH INFRASTRUCTURE














MARCH 29, 2015

EAST VILLAGE, NY

Firefighters worked on Sunday afternoon to pull two bodies from the scene of an explosion that demolished three buildings in the East Village.

One of the bodies — found after three days of sifting through the wreckage at Second Avenue and Seventh Street — had been identified as Nicholas Figueroa, who had been on a date at Sushi Park, a restaurant at 121 Second Avenue.  Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro said on Sunday evening that “everyone who was reported missing has been found,” appearing to confirm that the second body was that of Moises Ismael Locón Yac, 27, a busboy at Sushi Park, who was the only other person reported missing.

“We continue to search,” Mr. Nigro said at a news conference at the site, although “the likelihood of anyone else being here is very small.”

For the missing men’s family and friends, the news brought to an end an agonizing vigil. Now the grim task of searching for remains will give way to the complex one of pinpointing the cause of Thursday’s explosion. On Sunday, rescue workers could be seen digging through the rubble backed by cranes hoisting debris and a front loader pushing twisted metal and bits of furniture into a pile on a street. Rescuers had been using used cadaver dogs to search for victims.

At a nearby restaurant, Local 92, a sign read: "Our hearts [are] with people who got hurt and lost their homes."

In all, three buildings collapsed out of four that caught fire, and 11 buildings were evacuated, leaving residents of 144 apartments homeless.

Investigators were looking into whether gas and plumbing work being done privately in one building led to the explosion, and utility Con Edison said that its utility crew found dangerous gas line connections that created a "hazardous situation" during a visit in August prompted by the smell of gas in the basement.

The utility said it shut off the building's gas for about 10 days, until it was determined to be safe.

The basement could hold the key to the cause of the devastation, police said. On Friday, de Blasio said the blast was possibly tied to someone inappropriately tapping into a gas line.

Nigro also said workers had not reached the basement of the building and authorities had not reached any conclusions about the cause of the blast. 

An hour before the blast Con Edison inspectors had been at the scene and determined that pre-existing work was not satisfactory, but the problems were not safety-related, de Blasio said. 

 On Sunday, Joseph J. Esposito, the commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management, said the investigation was focusing on work that was being done within 121 Second Avenue, rather than on problems with infrastructure, where blame for a building collapse in East Harlem last year has fallen.