Police found a second device and is believed to be a pressure cooker hooked up with wires.
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Chelsea, the neighborhood of the explosion, is primarily a diverse residential area on the west side of Manhattan. A law enforcement official tells The Associated Press that an explosion in the C. REUTERS/Rashid Umar Abbasi A New York City firefighter uses a wheeled stretcher to carry supplies near the site of an explosion in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, U.S. September 17, 2016.
The consulate general of Bangladesh in NY remains in touch with the authorities concerned in NY to follow it up and to specially ascertain whether any Bangladeshi is affected, he said.
He said authorities did not know of a connection between the NY explosion and the bomb that exploded without hurting anyone earlier Saturday in New Jersey.
An explosion rocked the Chelsea neighbourhood of Manhattan and caused at least 25 injuries on Saturday, the New York City Fire Department said, prompting emergency personnel to swarm one of the most bustling areas of the city on a cool autumn evening.
New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, commented that the Chelsea blast was an “intentional act” however, he maintained that there had been no “specific and credible” terror threat made against the city.
Clinton, asked about Trump’s saying that a “bomb” had gone off in NY, said it was “important to know the facts about any incident like this”, adding, “I think it’s always wiser to wait until you have information before making conclusions, because we are just in the beginning stages of trying to determine what happened”.
De Blasio tried to calm any fears among nervous New Yorkers, saying the explosion had no terrorist connection and wasn’t related to a pipe bomb explosion earlier Saturday in New Jersey that forced the cancellation of a charity run. “We are not going to let anyone change who we are or how we go about our lives”.
A witness near the scene told CNBC that the blast was enough to shake buildings in the immediate vicinity, and that police were instructing residents to remain indoors and clear the scene.
After the initial Chelsea blast, a second device was located four blocks away on West 27th.
The source spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to talk publicly about the ongoing investigation. Police say it was to be taken to the department firing range in the Bronx. Photos from the scene show a twisted and crumpled black metal box.
The incident happened outside 135 West 23rd St., which is the Associated Blind Housing facility, which provides services for the blind, Reuters reports. Officials are still trying to assess what caused explosion the source said. He says several people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
None of the 29 injured appears to have been seriously hurt. Most of the injuries were minor.
The latest blast came less than a week after law enforcement agencies around the country were on heightened alert for the 15th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, airline-hijacking attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
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Chris Gonzalez, visiting from Dallas, was having dinner with friends at a restaurant in the area.
