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New York fire: Three critically injured after East Village building collapse

More than 130 firefighters responded.

Updated at 8.55pm

ddddd Fox News screengrab Fox News screengrab

A MAJOR BLAZE tore through a commercial and residential block in New York’s East Village today following a possible explosion.

Local stations are reporting that twelve people have been injured – three critically.

More than 130 fire fighters are at the scene battling to control the raging flames.

The entire building on Second Avenue was engulfed in flames and a number of floors collapsed.

bd ABC screengrab ABC screengrab

Thick grey smoke spewed over the Manhattan skyline.

It was not immediately clear how many people may have been inside the building.

The fire department described it as a mixed commercial-residential property. A spokeswoman said more than 30 fire units had responded to a “report of a major emergency, possible building collapse and possible explosion.”

“We have heavy fire on the scene.”

A reporter for local station Fox 5 said the building had collapsed as firefighters responded to the incident.

He said three people had been critically injured. It was not immediately clear whether they had been inside the building at the time.

A number of witnesses told the station they had heard an explosion before the fire broke out.

fire Fox 5 Fox 5

The area was being evacuated, and other people were being evaluated at the scene.

“I could feel the boom in my apartment, and it short of shook,” said freelance photographer Michael Seto, who lives a block and half away.

He grabbed his camera, ran outside and found a crowd gathering, looking at a brick tenement-style building with a restaurant on the first floor.

“By the second storey, the front part of the building, the facade, the first and second storeys, it looked like, had collapsed into the street,” he said.

Rubble was on the sidewalk, and glass and debris had been flung across an avenue.

As Seto ran up to the building, a fire was starting inside it.

“It spread very quickly and pretty much engulfed the first floor,” he said.

Meanwhile, a man was climbing up the fire escape, not down, he said.

“People were calling to him that the building’s on fire — he needs to get down,” and he did, Seto said.

He saw one person lying on the ground, being attended to by two to three passers-by who were holding his head still.

A woman was sitting on the curb with blood coming down her face, and another woman walked past him with blood on her face.

Includes reporting from AFP and Associated Press. 

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32 Comments
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    Mute Gearóid MacEachaidh
    Favourite Gearóid MacEachaidh
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:22 PM

    Not surprising. Tescos are making a fortune here.

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    Mute S
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:56 PM

    ‘Treasure Island’ is what Tescos called Ireland some years back. Making an absolute mint here with their astronomical prices.

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    Mute offtheball
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    Jan 31st 2023, 6:14 PM

    @S: they’re not charging any more than any of their rivals. Best best is to shop around them all for the best value.

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    Mute Sean Higgins
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    Jan 31st 2023, 7:03 PM

    The large supermarkets are slowly forming a cartel, the discount stores included. They are all about price matching not price beating. Very little difference between any of them.

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    Mute Peter
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    Feb 1st 2023, 11:56 AM

    @Sean Higgins:

    Yeah I only said that last night. They should be beating them and not matching them. The same with Harvey Norman with their ads saying they’ll match but if they couldn’t beat in the first place then I’d prefer to buy whatever it was at the original lower price with who offered it.

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    Mute Simon Eales
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:58 PM

    Anyone else notice the obvious price differences for the same items between their Express and bigger stores? I wonder if it’s the same in the UK.

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    Mute Bunny Johnson
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    Jan 31st 2023, 6:27 PM

    @Simon Eales: Yes. Can confirm. Tesco express and others express stores always charge more. I assumed they were franchises.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Jan 31st 2023, 8:52 PM

    @Simon Eales: Kinda makes sense cause isn’t Tesco Express just a glorified centra? It’s just a convenience store.

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    Mute Feargal Garvin
    Favourite Feargal Garvin
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    Jan 31st 2023, 5:58 PM

    Reacting to competition from soup kitchens and food banks

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