About twenty-nine persons were injured in an explosion in NY city on Saturday night, the incident the mayor said was not linked to terrorism but appeared to have been an “intentional act”.
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The blast itself, which injured 29 people, one seriously, is said to have originated from a dumpster located outside the Associated Blind Housing facility on 135 West 23rd Street.
NY mayor Bill de Blasio says there is “no evidence of a terror connection” and no evidence of a threat to the city after an explosion in a Manhattan dumpster.
De Blasio says they also believe there is no specific connection to an earlier incident in New Jersey, where an explosion went off in a garbage can on the route of a Marine Corps charity run.
Trump made the announcement minutes after stepping off his plane during a rally at an airport hangar in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Right now, it appears that the explosion took place outside on the street.
The New York Police Department tweeted early Sunday that the device has been safely removed from West 27th Street by the bomb squad.
Significantly, the only public figure to use the word “bomb” in connection with the dumpster explosion was Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who told reporters as he alighted from an aircraft in Colorado that “a bomb went off” in NY, which proved “we better get very tough, folks”.
This is the device found at second location, near NY explosion, officials say.
Mayor de Blasio sought to calm public anxiety, making three explicit points when he spoke at about 11pm Saturday – into each of which he inserted the caveat that the investigation had just begun. But boy we are living in a time – we better get very tough, folks.
More than a dozen people were injured after an explosion occurred in Manhattan Saturday evening, authorities said.
The blast happened in front of a residence for the blind.
Nearby residents reported hearing the Chelsea explosion, and police cleared sidewalks and streets of pedestrians and cars and pushed people back from the scene, where glass could be seen strewed around the street. He says several people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
No injuries were reported in the blast in Seaside Park around 9:30 a.m. Saturday, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County prosecutor’s office.
The ATF explosives task force also responded to the scene – a busy street filled with restaurants, bars and hotels.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as information becomes available.
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City Councilman Corey Johnson, who represents the area, told cable news station New York 1 that FBI and federal Homeland Security officials were on the scene, in addition to New York City police. 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.
