Accounts of desperate attempts to flee a raging New York inferno are emerging, with residents seen jumping from fire escapes as they tried to get to safety.
Up to 30 people are thought to be injured in the "major building collapse" during the apartment fire near the corner of Second Avenue and East Seventh Street in Manhattan's East Village.
Niraj Desai, 36, who works nearby, said he saw one woman stuck on a fire escape struggling to get the ladder unhooked, The New York Times reported.
"This poor girl was stuck upstairs," Mr. Desai said. "She was having a hard time. You could tell there was a lot of emotion going on. A bunch of guys were down at the bottom helping her get down."
Another man also made his way down the fire escape ladder before smoke started to pour from the building, he said.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, speaking at a news conference at the scene, said that "preliminary evidence suggests a gas-related explosion" was caused by plumbing and gas work nearby.
Construction worker Matty Disilvestro also described the scene of chaos as the fire engulfed the Manhattan apartment block this morning.
"I heard a loud explosion, just a very loud vibrating boom….People who were on the sidewalks and even people on the opposite side of the street were hit with debris,"told The New York Post.
Robert Shapiro witnessed the fire from nearby cafe. He described the intensity of the fire. "I've never seen such an aggressive fire - it was like they were pouring gas on it," he told the New York Post.
"The roof erupted in flames. I swear to you, at least 30 feet in the air, bright orange flames," he said.
The Associated Press is reporting at least two people who have been critically injured.
CNBC reports an explosion happened in a restaurant near the ground floor of the building with fire spreading to an apartment building.
Two buildings have been consumed by fire. According to the NY Post, a diner who was eating at the Sushi Park restaurant nearby told police he heard a blast from inside the nearby kitchen.
Orange flames and black smoke billowed from the facade and roof of the five-story building in Manhattan, near several NYU buildings and the Washington Square Park area. Flames were spreading to other buildings.
Investigators were looking into whether there had been a gas leak. There were some reports of an explosion before the fire.
The area was being evacuated, and other people were being evaluated at the scene.
Major explosion on 2nd ave and 7th street. New Yorkers being awesome and helping this young lady get down! pic.twitter.com/YxGh2C68IP
— Niraj Desai (@nayramz) March 26, 2015
Freelance photographer Michael Seto, who lives about 1 1/2 blocks away, said he was having lunch when the explosion shook his apartment.
He grabbed his camera, ran outside and found a crowd gathering, looking at a brick tenement-style building with a restaurant on the first floor.
"By the second story, the front part of the building, the facade, the first and second stories, it looked like, had collapsed into the street," he said.
Rubble was on the sidewalk, and glass and debris had been flung across an avenue.
As Seto ran up to the building, a fire was starting inside it.
"It spread very quickly and pretty much engulfed the first floor," he said.
He saw one person lying on the ground, being attended to by two to three passers-by who were holding his head still. A woman was sitting on the curb with blood coming down her face, and another woman walked past him with blood on her face.
#BREAKING: Aerial view of building collapse @NYPD9Pct. Numerous rescue units on scene #SOD #ESU #K9 #Aviation #FD pic.twitter.com/d9iX4GOBUd
— NYPD Special Ops (@NYPDSpecialops) March 26, 2015
