NEW YORK — A massive explosion leveled two apartment buildings in New York City, killing at least two women, injuring 18 people and blowing out windows for several city blocks. A utility company says a resident in a nearby building reported smelling gas shortly before the blast. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who rushed to the scene, said people were missing and suggested some might have fled to safety. Smoke billowed above the city's skyline and sidewalks in Harlem were littered with broken glass from shattered storefront and apartment windows. Witnesses say the explosion was so powerful it knocked groceries off the shelves of nearby stores. “There's nothing left,” said Eusebio Perez, 48, a piano technician who lived in one of the buildings and rushed home from work as soon as he heard the news. “Just a bunch of bricks and wood.” He added: “I only have what I'm wearing.” Police, some wearing gas and medical masks, set up barricades and handed out masks to residents and onlookers to protected them from the thick, acrid smoke that shrouded the area. Those without masks held their hands or scarves over their faces. “It felt like an earthquake had rattled my whole building,” said Waldemar Infante, 24, a porter from a nearby residential building who was working in the basement when the explosion occurred. “There were glass shards everywhere on the ground and all the stores had their windows blown out.” A resident from a building next to the two that collapsed reported that he smelled gas inside his apartment, but thought the odor could be coming from outside, Con Edison spokesman Bob McGee said. He said the utility dispatched two crews just after 9:15 a.m. but they arrived after the explosion. McGee said the street is served by an eight-inch (20-centimeter) low pressure gas main, but would not speculate on whether a gas leak caused the explosion. “We're working with the (fire department) and checking gas lines,” he said. “We're working to isolate any leaks and make the area safe.” One of the destroyed residential buildings housed a piano store on the ground floor, the other a storefront church. Building Department records showed that the building with the church got permits to install new gas piping in June. — AP
