A body camera video captured the moment when New York police officers stormed a building in the Bronx and saved a woman who was trapped after a massive explosion that caused a fire and the collapse of the building yesterday.
Warning: the full video, available here, may be disturbing. The incident left an elderly woman dead and several people injured, including five police officers who suffered smoke inhalation. Two civilians were reported in “serious” but “stable” condition.
The video released by the New York police shows the aftermath of the explosion, with bystanders telling officers someone was trapped inside “under the couch.” Then the agents rush over, turn the furniture over and take out the unidentified woman, who was screaming in anguish.
The emergency occurred yesterday a few before 11 am in a private residence near the intersection of Fox Street and Intervale Avenue in the Longwood neighborhood, FDNY officials said. Police detailed that the fire broke out in a three-story residential building that later collapsed.
Mayor Eric Adams called the deadly explosion a “tragic and terrifying” incident. “Our hearts go out to the family members” of the victims, the mayor said during an afternoon briefing, citing Pix11.
“This is a serious tragedy,” Lieutenant Governor Brian Benjamin said at the place, according to New York Post. “The governor and I will make sure that the state does everything it can, financially and otherwise, to help these owners who have been affected by this tragedy.”
The tragedy was caused by a gas explosion inside a house, according to councilor Rafael Salamanca. An elderly female 77 died after being rushed to Lincoln Hospital. She was later identified as Martha Dagbasta. It was commented that another of the victims is his sister.
The fire also spread to a neighboring house, detailed Daily News. Experts from ConEdison arrived on scene to help determine exactly how the explosion occurred. More than 100 firefighters, emergency medical technicians and paramedics attended the scene.
Yesterday’s tragedy It happened less than two weeks after a massive fire in the Bronx also killed 17 people, including 8 children, on January 9. It was the largest fire tragedy in New York since 1990 and also one of the worst nationally in several decades.