Two people suffered burns to their airways, Nigro said.
The
buildings on Second Avenue at East Seventh Street are in the East
Village, a neighborhood of small businesses, restaurants and apartments.
Moishe Perl, 64, who
owns Moishe’s Bake Shop nearby said he heard a loud explosion, ran
outside and saw the lower floors of a building start to crumble.
"Most
of the people were running out of the building and climbing down the
fire escape," he said, while others were helped out of windows by
passersby.
Ben Mackinnon, 28, said he was drinking coffee in a cafe when he heard an explosion from across the street.
"The explosion was big enough that the door of the cafe blew open," Mackinnon said.
He saw several bloodied men emerge from a sushi restaurant where the explosion appeared to originate, he said,
One of them fell to the pavement, Mackinnon said.
Shameem
Noor, a cashier at the Veselka restaurant about a block away, said he
also heard the blast and saw three or four people fall to the street.
"People were running and screaming," he said.
The
four buildings contain 49 apartments, according to a spokesman for the
American Red Cross at the scene. The ground floors were occupied by
small eateries.
A
relocation center for residents displaced by the blast and fire was set
up in a nearby elementary school, said Red Cross spokesman Josh
Lockwood.
"There's a lot
of people at the scene standing outside asking questions, so we're
waiting," he said. "We'll be here through the night."