It has not been confirmed that the object is an explosive device.
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“It was a loud boom, a deep boom”, an eyewitness who was eating dinner nearby when the blast occurred said. I knew something was wrong, people ran from 23rd street and I ran with them. “You could feel it in your chest and in your legs”.
According to the officials, the blast was a planted device and could be a criminal act. The explosion was captured on video, he said. “We do not see a link to terrorism”, he added.
Witnesses say Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security officials are also at the scene.
President Barack Obama is being kept up to date on the investigation, a White House official said.
Witnesses living three blocks away told AFP they heard a large boom from their fifth floor apartment, followed by quiet, then the sound of sirens.
“So far we have no information of any Bangladeshi being injured”, he said.
Donald Trump moved ahead of New York City officials when he declared a “bomb went off” in the city before officials had released details.
The cause of the blast late on Saturday in Chelsea remains unclear. Police searched cars and trash cans in the area. Find us on Facebook too!
FDNY bomb dogs were searching the area for other devices. No one was hurt.
He also has not yet released a formal statement but told the audience that “a bomb” had gone off in New York City and that “nobody knows what’s going on” as reported by the Associated Press.
“The exact nature and cause of this explosion has not yet been determined”, James O’Neill, the NY police commissioner marking his first day in the position, said at the news conference late Saturday. “Also to pray for the victims”, she said.
But social media lit up with reports of a blast, attributing the explosion to an IED, or improvised explosive device – in other words, a homemade bomb – and though that report was picked up by WIBA Radio News, there has been no confirmation on what may have caused the blast from NY authorities.
“We are deeply saddened by the NY explosion that left scores injured in Chelsea district”, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement. He told the crowd, “we better get very tough, folks”.
He made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane during a rally at an airport hangar in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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The Trump campaign did not respond to numerous requests for comment Saturday night on whether Trump had any evidence the explosion was a bomb or whether he was in contact with NYC officials.
