13 March 2014 (16:39 UTC-07 Tango)/11 Jumada l-Ula 1435/22 Esfand 1392/13 Ding-Mao 4712
“That pipe is still intact. That’s unlike the other pipeline accidents that I’ve been to, where the pipe is thrown out of a crater. This pipe is still in the ground.”-Robert Sumwalt, National Transportation Safety Board
Officials from the U.S. NTSB also pointed out that there might have been a water main break prior to the explosion on 12 March 2014, that took down two six story buildings. The water main break created a sink hole that’s impeding the on going firefighting and rescue operations.
Seven people found dead, at least nine missing, more than 60 injured.
Listening to live news radio from New York City, I heard several claims by people living in the area that Consolidated Edison (ConEd) was routinely called because of an on going, and strong, smell of gas. Company and city records contradict the claims by neighborhood residents.
However, the the Department of Housing Preservation and Development does show complaints for no smoke detectors, no carbon monoxide detectors, bars over fire escapes, as well as numerous lesser issues.
The Center for an Urban Future blames the explosion on New York City’s 56 years old, 10139km (6300 miles) long and leaking gas pipelines. However, Edward Foppiano, a ConEd senior vice president, says they’ve been replacing some old pipes, but the pipes in the area of explosion were not scheduled for replacement: “Age is not in and of itself an issue….”
The guy I saw operating a small drone over the site (caught by a live news ‘copter camera) has been identified as Brian Wilson. He was using a DJI Phantom 2 quadcopter. What I find interesting is that in this day and age when cops love to arrest people for taking pics of them (which is actually illegal), Wilson got away with at least 30 minutes of video that included cops and firefighters. I even saw Metro police looking right at the privately owned drone. Police did finally tell Wilson to stop: “At the end, the cops said they’d prefer if I didn’t fly in the area anymore, so I stopped.”
ConEd contradicts time of explosion