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News >Article

Explosion rocks Manhattan, revives 9/11
memories

Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:43 PM EDT

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By Claudia Parsons and John
Doran

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An underground steam pipe exploded in
midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, shaking buildings, creating a
towering geyser of debris and sending pedestrians fleeing in scenes
reminiscent of the September 11 attacks.

Officials in New York and Washington promptly ruled out a
terrorist attack. One person died and about 20 people were injured,
some seriously, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

"The big fear that we have is there may or may not have been
asbestos released," Bloomberg said.

Boiling, brownish water and steam gushed geyser-like at least 120
feet high out of a crater about 20 feet

wide on Lexington Avenue at 41st Street, one of the busiest areas
of New York City near the Grand Central transportation hub.

The scene looked as if buildings were collapsing in a billow of
debris as they did on September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center
in lower Manhattan was destroyed.

"We ran down 43 floors thinking we were going to die," said Megan
Fletcher, 35, who works for an Australian company in the Chrysler
Building. "It looked like when the buildings collapsed on 9/11."

Police at the scene also raised the concern of asbestos being
strewn into the air. Rescue workers and those covered in the debris
were being decontaminated at the scene by hazardous materials
specialists.

"It was a steam pipe rupture right before 6 p.m. We're in the
process of isolating the pipeline, assessing for possible collateral
damage," said Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for power utility
Consolidated Edison.

It was the latest public embarrassment for ConEd, which is under
scrutiny for power blackouts.

The pipe of 24 inches in diameter was installed in 1924,
Bloomberg told a news conference, and may have burst because cold
water somehow entered it.    Continued
...

© Reuters 2007. All Rights
Reserved.

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