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Helicopters circling over the Chelsea neighborhood. Police sirens. The crime scene was cordoned off while New York Mayor de Blasio tried to calm the population hours after the explosion in front of a house in the middle of busy Manhattan. So far, says Mayor de Blasio, there has been no evidence of a terrorist attack. This is all preliminary information, adds the mayor.
8:30 p.m. local time, New York City, 23rd hour in Chelsea. A powerful explosion, heard for miles, shook the area. Car windows shatter, pictures from the crime scene show dented cars and a tattered garbage container. Police chief James O’Neill said 29 people were injured, most of them from flying pieces of glass and metal. One victim had suffered more serious wounds, but none was in mortal danger.
According to James O’Neill, the explosion site will be treated as a crime scene. Investigators from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the new New York anti-terrorist unit have been on site for hours and apparently found and cordoned off another suspicious location shortly before the mayor stepped in front of the microphones for the first time. No evidence of terrorism so far, the authorities say, but one thing is certain: the explosion since, according to Mayor de Blasio, has been brought about on purpose.
Unrelated to another explosion in New Jersey
The first signs point to it, says the mayor. So far, the investigators have not been able to or have not wanted to reveal what caused the explosion. However, the authorities have already ruled out a gas explosion. None of the official representatives used the word explosive device. The security authorities were particularly alarmed because hours earlier a pipe bomb had exploded on the route of a charity run for American soldiers in neighboring New Jersey, but without causing any damage. So far, there is no connection to this incident, said the police chief.
American President Obama, who is in New York for a campaign rally today, was informed of the explosion. Mayor de Blasio called on all New Yorkers to be calm and prudent that there was no acute threat of terrorism against New York City.
The 71st general debate at the United Nations begins next week. Dozens of heads of state and government are then expected in New York, the city will be transformed into a high-security wing.
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