East Village explosion: at least two people believed missing in New York

Two people were unaccounted for on Friday morning after an explosion in Manhattan’s East Village ignited a fire and caused two buildings to partially collapse.

At least 25 people were injured in the incident, the New York City fire department said on Friday. Police confirmed two people were unaccounted for.

The family of Nicholas Figueroa, 23, told reporters that they could not find their son after the explosion, which occurred in the basement of the sushi restaurant where he had been dining on a date.

“Right now we don’t really know what to do; we’re just praying,” his father, also named Nicholas Figueroa, told the New York Daily News.

Figueroa’s family said that the woman he had been dining with was taken to Bellevue hospital to be treated for injuries. His brother, Tyler, told the AP that she remembered stumbling out of the building, then lost consciousness.

“It’s just frustrating that we don’t have concrete details as to where my brother is,” another brother, Brandon Figueroa, told the New York Times. “I’m emotional, and we don’t know what’s in the future.”

Police said the second person believed missing was a busboy.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the fire was probably gas-related, though he said no one had reported a gas leak before the explosion.

Workers from the gas and electric utility company Con Edison had visited the building a little more than an hour before the explosion to inspect work done by a private company.

Like many other buildings in the East Village, 121 2nd Avenue had a restaurant on the ground floor and residential buildings above. Three adjacent buildings were affected by the explosion. The other building to partially collapse was 123 2nd Avenue.

De Blasio said about 250 firefighters responded as hundreds of bystanders surrounded the chaotic scene. Emergency responders were stationed throughout the neighborhood overnight.

A woman who was working at the Moonstruck Diner two blocks from the sushi restaurant told the Guardian she had felt a “boom and a vibration” unlike anything she had felt before. She asked not to be named.

In March 2014, eight people died after a gas explosion in East Harlem. Con Edison employees were responding to a call about a gas leak when the explosion occurred. The National Transportation Safety Board is still working on its final report about that incident.