Manhattan
explosion: New York on full alert after blast rocks city
Witnesses
describe people ‘running for their lives’ after blast in Chelsea
as police examine second device while mayor Bill de Blasio says no
link to terror
Martin Pengelly,
David Taylor and Joanna Walters in New York
Sunday 18 September
2016 07.40 BST
New York has been
placed on full alert after 29 people were injured in an explosion in
the Chelsea area of Manhattan on Saturday evening, with at least one
other device being investigated by police in the city.
The cause of the
first blast, which one witness said was “like a volcano”, was
believed to have been an explosive device placed in a trash can on
23rd Street, a bustling area of the city on the lower west side a few
blocks from the Empire State Building.
Another device
reported to be a pressure cooker with wires attached to a cell phone
was discovered on nearby 27th Street.
Earlier in the day,
a pipe bomb exploded in New Jersey near the scene of a run in support
of US Marines.
Although the New
York mayor, Bill de Blasio, told a media conference the Chelsea
explosion was an “intentional act”, he stopped short of saying it
was a bomb and said that there was “no evidence” yet of any link
to terror.
However, a police
officer at the scene confirmed to the Guardian that the first
explosion was caused by a device placed in a trash can on 23rd
Street. He did not give any further details.
The second site of
investigation on 27th Street also involved “a device”, the
officer said, and police were also examining a third site of interest
but it was not clear whether it was an explosive device.
CNN reported that
the second device was a pressure cooker, found with wires attached to
a cell phone and a note. Pressure cooker bombs were the devices used
to deadly effect in the bombing of the Boston Marathon in 2013.
Bomb squad officers
removed the device from the site and were preparing to transfer it to
a safe location to conduct a controlled explosion away from the
heavily residential area.
De Blasio was
flanked by the newly installed New York police commissioner, James
O’Neill, when he spoke to reporters at around 11pm local time.
“Injuries are significant but none of the injured are likely to
die,” the mayor said after the blast had rocked city streets,
producing a wall of flame that sent people “running for their
lives”.
Police officers who
were driving west on 23rd Street a few blocks south of the Empire
State Building witnessed the explosion, the mayor said, and the blast
was captured on video, which is being analysed by city and federal
experts.
“There is no
evidence at this point of a terror connection to this incident. This
is preliminary,” De Blasio said. But he added: “Early indications
are that this was an intentional act.”
In Colorado,
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump spoke before any
official confirmation of what had happened when he told reporters
there had been a bomb in New York City, which proved “we better get
real tough, folks”.
After landing in
suburban New York City, Clinton told reporters she had been briefed
“about the bombings in New York and New Jersey” and said: “We
need to do everything we can to support our first responders, also to
pray for the victims. We have to let this investigation unfold.”
A witness who spoke
to the Guardian thought it had been a gas explosion but the
authorities said there was no evidence of “a natural gas cause”.
The mayor and the
police chief refused to give details on whether there was evidence of
a bomb or whether the explosion was in a trash can, inside some other
container or simply on the street.
Asked specifically
if there had been an improvised explosive device (IED) at the scene,
the New York police commissioner, James O’Neill, said: “We are
not saying that.”
De Blasio declined
to go into details but said that although roads were closed to
traffic, residents were not being evacuated from either of the two
sites of investigation.
Advertisement
“Tonight, New York
City experienced a very serious incident. All hands are on deck,”
said De Blasio.
He also said there
was no evidence to link the incidents in New York to a pipe bomb in
New Jersey earlier in the day.
“Based on what we
know at this hour, there is no specific connection to the incident in
New Jersey. There is no specific evidence of a connection at this
time and there is no credible and specific threat against New York
City at this time,” he added.
He ordered all New
York police officers and other agencies to be “on full alert”.
But he added a note of defiance.
“Whatever the
cause, whatever the intention, New Yorkers will not be intimidated,”
De Blasio said.
He called for anyone
who had witnessed the explosion, and anyone who had captured any
video at the scene to reach out to the authorities immediately.
The first official
report of the explosion, which occurred on the street outside 131
West 23rd Street, the NYPD later stated, came via Twitter earlier
prior to the press conference.
“Explosion
happened at roughly 8.30pm on 23rd street between 6th and 7th
avenues,” J Peter Donald, NYPD assistant commissioner for
communication and public information, said in a tweet confirming the
explosion. “Several injured transported to area hospitals.”
The New York fire
department subsequently said in a tweet that 25 people had been
injured, none seriously. One of the injured suffered a puncture wound
that was considered serious, fire department commissioner Daniel
Nigro said. He said the other injuries were minor, described as
scrapes and bruises.
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.
At West 23rd street
and 8th Avenue, two blocks west of the scene of the blast, hundreds
of people out for the night in Manhattan had gathered behind police
tape. Witnesses said FBI and homeland security officials were also at
the scene of the blast.
One witness, Deborah
Griffith, told the Guardian she had seen the blast “like a
volcano”.
People were running
everywhere, she said, and “it was real loud”. The explosion was
red in the centre, she said, producing a wall of flame. Griffin
thought it was a gas explosion: she was shopping at Home Depot and
was seven doors away when the blast happened.
“The explosion was
so big,” she said. “People were running for their lives.”
Advertisement
Another witness,
Soleil Philomena, a Chelsea resident, was carrying her grey mongrel
dog Wolfie in a black shoulder bag. She told how she had just got off
the crosstown bus and went into a grocery store to buy a magazine at
West 23rd and 7th Avenue.
“I came back out,”
she said, “and I heard ‘boom!’ I thought it was fireworks, but
everything was shaking, the buildings, my body was shaking. I looked
up there was a big cloud of smoke. I saw smoke, it was like a
mushroom cloud of black smoke.
“People started
running past me and I started running with them. Then we were hugging
each other, everyone was so shocked.”
Philomena went into
a nearby branch of Whole Foods where she said she felt safe. “The
noise was like one of those cherry bombs but a thousand times
louder,” she added.
The Pulitzer
Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright, a resident of the area, said in
a post to Facebook: “Major explosion on our block. Front door of
our building shattered and things fell off our shelves … but David
and I are fine and so is our dinner guest.
“The street has
been shut down and we are not allowed by police and FBI to leave our
apartment. Feeling deeply alarmed and thankful to be safe at the same
time.”
West 23rd and 8th
Avenue
Despite the lack of
official information about what had happened, far away to the west,
at a rally in Colorado Springs, Trump said there had been a “bomb”
in New York.
Moments after
leaving his plane, according to pool reporters, Trump said: “I must
tell you that just before I got off the plane, a bomb went off in New
York and nobody knows exactly what’s going on but, boy we are
really in a time – we better get very tough, folks.
Pipe bomb explodes
near Jersey Shore 5km run in support of US Marines
Read more
“We better get
very tough. We’ll find out. It’s a terrible thing that’s going
on in our world and in our country and we are going to get tough and
smart and vigilant. We’ll see what it is. In any event, I am so
thrilled to be in Colorado.”
Earlier in the day,
police sources said a pipe bomb exploded near the course of a
scheduled 5km race in support of the US Marines and sailors in
Seaside Park, New Jersey, 85 miles down the east coast from New York.
Other devices failed
to explode, authorities said. The race had been delayed, ensuring no
runners were near the explosion, which happened in a trash can. The
event was subsequently cancelled.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário