East Village explosion: Fire destroys two buildings in New York City, injuring 19

FDNY has confirmed 19 people have been injured and four of them are in critical condition

(Twitter/EastVillageEats)

An explosion in New York City has caused two 2nd Avenue buildings to collapse and two other buildings are on fire in the city's East Village neighbourhood, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio.

This is NOT looking good... #EastVillage pic.twitter.com/z5u7POHT2j

hyphen; East Village Eats (@EastVillageEats) March 26, 2015

Preliminary reports indicate the explosion was caused by a gas leak while plumbing and gas work was going on in the building at 121 2nd Avenue, which collapsed. The building at 123 2nd Avenue was also largely destroyed.

The buildings at 119 and 125 2nd Avenue also caught fire, but the blaze did not spread beyond there.

FDNY tweeted that the fire had grown to seven-alarm status, indicating the severity of the blaze.

The explosion happened about 3:20 pm on Thursday in the East Village neighbourhood in Manhattan. Local media reported that the building is home to a restaurant, with apartments above. Three adjacent buildings caught fire and another collapsed, the mayor said.

A plumber was doing work connected to a gas service upgrade in the building, and inspectors for utility company Con Edison had been there, company President Craig Ivey said. But the work failed the inspection, partly because a space for the new meters wasn't big enough, Con Ed said.