NEW YORK (REUTERS) — An accidental explosion shook buildings in Manhattan Thursday, injuring more than 30 people and rattling nerves in a city still jittery from the Sept. 11 attacks.
“At the moment, I want to assure there is absolutely no reason to think this is anything other than a tragic accident, and we hope there is no loss of life,” New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters.
The mayor said more than 30 people were injured in the 11:29 a.m. explosion that sent shards of glass onto the sidewalks, rocked nearby buildings, broke windows at offices across the street and drew about 200 firefighters to the scene.
Fire Department officials said 36 people were injured, 12 of them critically.
Speaking at a news briefing at a firehouse near the scene of the blast, 121 W. 19th St. in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, Bloomberg said the most critically injured people had extensive burns and had been taken to burn units at local hospitals.
New York Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said that the explosion occurred in the basement of the building, which houses a company that makes signs.
He said the company had received shipments of volatile chemicals in 50-gallon drums Wednesday, but he could not say if those were the cause of the explosion.
“The company does etching and uses very volatile materials to do that etching,” Scoppetta said.
The blast rattled nearby buildings and was initially thought to have occurred in the Apex Technical School on the corner of West 19th Street and Sixth Avenue. The school was not damaged.
Bloomberg said that police and fire officials were investigating.
“It was pretty powerful,” said Tara Knabenshue, receptionist at Three of Us Studios, an acting school on 19th Street. “It was more of a shock because we were wondering what was happening.”
“After it happened, someone [in the office] made the comment that ‘this is the last thing we need right now, especially after what’s happened,'” Knabenshue said.
In a sign of the times after the Sept. 11 attacks, St. Vincent’s Hospital said the victims it received were checked for radiation as they were admitted.
New Yorkers have been on edge since the attacks in which two hijacked planes smashed into the World Trade Center, reducing the twin towers to rubble. Around 3,000 people were killed in coordinated attacks on New York and Washington.
The United States launched a war on terrorism in response to the attacks, and federal officials have issued a series of warnings of possible attacks against a wide range of targets.
Among the concerns is that al Qaeda, the network headed by Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden and blamed by Washington for the Sept. 11 attacks, may be able to construct a “dirty bomb” — a conventional weapon infused with radioactive isotopes.
