Two bodies were found in
the rubble Sunday at the site where a building exploded in New York's East
Village found according to CNN.
The victims' remains have not yet been officially identified, but authorities believe they are the two people who were reported missing after Thursday's blast, New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters.
The victims' remains have not yet been officially identified, but authorities believe they are the two people who were reported missing after Thursday's blast, New York Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro told reporters.
The men reported missing
last week, Nicholas Figueroa and Moises Locon, were thought to have been at a
sushi restaurant at the time of the explosion.
Crews are still searching
the scene, Nigro said, even though it's unlikely there are other victims.
Three buildings collapsed
and four others were damaged Thursday by the explosion and raging gas-fueled
fire that followed.
Nigro declined to discuss
details about what caused the blast, saying an investigation is ongoing.
Investigators are looking
into whether a gas line was "inappropriately accessed" at the
building where the explosion occurred, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told
reporters Friday.
Gas utility inspectors
checking on work in the building's basement left the premises about 30 minutes
before the explosion.
In August, Con Edison shut
off gas lines at the building for 10 days after discovering they'd been
tampered with, according to Alfonso Quiroz, a spokesman for the utility.
Before last week's blast,
the restaurant's owner had smelled gas and contacted the building's owner, but
didn't contact authorities. That was a "major mistake," New York
Emergency Management Commissioner Joe Esposito said Sunday.
"They should have
called 911," he said. "We don't know what the outcome would have
been. But that's what they should have done."
Nicholas Figueroa's body
was one of those recovered from the rubble Sunday, family spokeswoman Awilda
Cordero told CNN affiliates NY1 and WABC.
"Thank you to
everybody for all the effort they did," she said. "Yes, it is
Nicholas. They found him."
Figueroa, who had recently
graduated from college, was on a date at the sushi restaurant and went to the
back to pay when the explosion occurred.
The family is devastated,
she said, but relieved to learn that his body was found.
"They've been waiting
and waiting. ... This is just the beginning of doing something that they needed
to do," she said.
Locon, an employee at the restaurant, was
reported missing by his brother, police sources said last week.
"I saw that young man
every day, every single day we had a chat to say 'hello how's business,'"
Michael Schumacher, who owns a grocery store near where the explosion occurred,
told WABC.
"Kid worked hard for
his family" Schumacher said.
CNN
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