Massive NYC explosion after someone ‘inappropriately’ tapped gas line: mayor

Massive NYC explosion after someone ‘inappropriately’ tapped gas line: mayor

The line had just failed inspection by ConEd, who was supposed to give instructions that no more gas be sent through the line -- but just 15 minutes later, an explosion injured at least 22 people in East Village.

An explosion that destroyed three apartment buildings and injured 22 people in New York may have been caused by someone who had improperly tapped the gas line, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Friday.

Police were still searching for two missing people and firefighters were trying to douse the last remaining embers from the blaze as de Blasio made his address, during which he asserted that the “gas line was inappropriately accessed internally” by someone in one of the buildings that was destroyed, but officials will need to get to the basement to explore that possibility, according to an Associated Press report.

The explosion appears to have originated in an area where there was plumbing and gas work. As it turns out, inspectors with utility Consolidated Edison actually did visit the building, which is in East Village, to check on the system as work was ongoing to upgrade gas service, and it didn’t pass inspection, prompting them to give instructions that gas should not be introduced to the line. They didn’t smell gas at the time, according to the report.

However, just 15 minutes after their visit, the owner of a sushi restaurant smelled gas and called the landlord, who called a general contractor, but no one called 911 or even ConEd, according to the mayor as quoted in the report.

The contractor and the son of the sushi restaurant’s owner ventured down into the basement and opened a door, setting off the explosion and burning their faces.

Authorities still hadn’t answered the question of whether the apartments were getting gas from the existing line as the current line was getting improvements so that a bigger line would be able to serve the entire building and now just the sushi restaurant.

De Blasio didn’t provide more information on why officials think the line was inappropriately tapped, but it wouldn’t be the first time ConEd had found unauthorized gas pipes, as workers had found one at that location just last August after there were reports of a gas smell, according to the report.

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