Memory from an apartment building in New York collapses with an explosion possible

Section of a 20-storey residential building partially collapsed in New York on Wednesday morning, and authorities say there are no injuries.

Firefighters and emergency responses searched the afternoon for anyone who may have been trapped under the mounds of the ruins outside the building, which is part of a public housing development in the Bronx.

“The whole building just – you heard a strong boom and things just exploded, and it fell just like that,” said a witness talking to CBS News, the BBC American partner.

“Someone in the building next to me, they said that their window had even fallen and he was on the 16th floor,” another witness told CBS.

The collapse seems to be from an explosion in the ventilation shaft of a boiler room, said city commissioner Robert Tucker at a press conference.

No apartments were damaged, but as a precaution, some residents were evacuated. Others were allowed to return, but the gas to the building was switched off as the authorities were investigating.

This investigation will determine if gas leaks have caused the explosion, said Mayor Eric Adams. COND COND COND has not returned a request for a comment from BBC.

The New York residential body, which manages the complex, said in a statement that it was investigating the incident and still determined the degree of damage. The building has several detected violations against it.

The New York buildings department issued a partial job order, which is still active, on the building in June, according to Public Records. The order was related to a violation of a water supply system, which may be defective, not working or poorly maintained.

The other two violations of the property are still active, public records show. One of February 2024 refers to the failure of the building to submit a report on the safety and inspection of the facade.

Another active violation deals with a NYCHA check report, which found that the facade of the building was dangerous.

DOB Commissioner, James Odo, said there were three detected violations against the property that deal with questions that are not the safety of the boilers. It is unclear how the violations he refers to are related, if at all, to the active violations described in public records.

The partial collapse comes just a week after a fire in the same building left a teenager, a coma and in a critical condition, although her father told her local Outlet News 12 Long Island that she is now recovering.

“We were lucky that this emergency situation did not lead to a loss of life, that it did not become a tragedy,” said Amanda Septimo, a member of the assembly, which represents the area of ​​the building, of a press conference.

“But we can’t rely on luck to keep our community safe.”