A blast in New York City's Chelsea neighborhood
on Saturday night caused 29 injuries with none of them life threatening, the
city's Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said at a news conference.
EARLIER:
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) - An explosion
rocked the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan and injured at least 25 people on
Saturday, the New York City Fire Department said, prompting emergency personnel
to swarm one of the most bustling areas of the city on a cool evening.
A law enforcement source said an initial
investigation suggested the explosion occurred in a dumpster but the cause was
still undetermined. The head of the New York Police Department's special
operations division said on Twitter that a "possible secondary device has
been located" in the same general area.
Another official close to the investigation told
Reuters that investigators were considering the possibility that the blast was
accidentally triggered by construction explosives.
But CNN reported that law enforcement sources
believe an improvised explosive device caused the blast.
President Barack Obama, who was attending a
congressional dinner in Washington, "has been apprised of the explosion in
New York City, the cause of which remains under investigation," a White
House official said. "The president will be updated as additional
information becomes available," the official added.
A U.S. official said the Joint Terrorism Task
Force, an interagency group of federal, state and local officials, was
responding to the blast, suggesting authorities have not ruled out the
possibility of a terror attack.
The task force is also investigating a pipe bomb
that exploded earlier on Saturday in a plastic trash can along the route of a
charity road race in the New Jersey beach town of Seaside Park. No injuries
were reported in that blast, which authorities believe was a deliberate act.
'DEAFENING' EXPLOSION
At least three people were seen being taken away
from the scene of the Chelsea blast in ambulances, but the severity of their
injuries was not immediately clear. A car seen driving through the area had its
rear window blown out.
The blast occurred at about 8:30 p.m. (0030 GMT
on Sunday) between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue on 23rd Street, a major east-west
thoroughfare in the fashionable downtown neighborhood of Chelsea, J. Peter
Donald, a deputy commissioner with the New York Police Department, said in a
Twitter message.
New York City firefighters stand near the site
of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, on Sept.
17, 2016.© REUTERS/Rashid Umar Abbasi New York City firefighters stand near the
site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, on
Sept. 17, 2016.
Representatives of the NYPD, the Fire Department
of New York and other city agencies could not be reached immediately for
further comment.
A fire department spokesman said 25 people
suffered minor injuries, and none was believed to have been taken to a
hospital. He said no fatalities were reported.
The explosion, described by one neighbor as
"deafening," happened outside the Associated Blind Housing facility
at 135 W. 23rd Street. The facility provides housing, training and other
services for the blind.
Hundreds of people were seen fleeing down the
block on a cool early autumn evening, as police cordoned off the area.
"It was really loud, it hurt my eardrums.
My 10-year-old boy was sat in the back seat of the car, and the explosion blew
the back window out," said Tsi Tsi Mallett, who was in a car driving along
23rd Street when the explosion took place. Her son was not injured.
Neha Jain, 24, who lives in the neighborhood,
said she was sitting in her room watching a movie when she suddenly heard a
huge boom and everything shook.
"Pictures on my wall fell, the window
curtain came flying as if there was a big gush of wind. Then we could smell
smoke. Went downstairs to see what happened and firemen immediately told us to
go back."
New York City Police issued a bulletin advising
motorists in the area that they should "expect extensive traffic delays
and emergency personnel in the area of 23rd Street and 7th Avenue" due to
police activity there and asking the public to avoid the area.
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