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Nicholas Figueroa, 23, was missing after going on a date Thursday at Sushi Park in the East Village, his family says. The restaurant was destroyed by an explosion and fire.
Tyler Figueroa, 19, said his 23-year-old brother Nicholas had disappeared after going on a date at an East Village sushi restaurant that was levelled by the explosion.
Mr Figueroa said the two were paying for their meal when the blast occurred, and that his brother’s date, who is in the hospital, remembers only stumbling outside before losing consciousness.
“I just pray my brother shows up,” he said.
“We just hope my brother comes back.”
Police, however, said early on Friday they have no reports of a missing person.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said preliminary evidence suggests the incident may be gas-related.
A plumber was doing work connected to a gas service upgrade, 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 metres was not big enough, Con Ed said.
Television footage showed casualties being carried on stretchers from the wreckage at 125 Second Avenue, where the lower two floors had reportedly caved in.
More than 130 firefighters battled the blaze, which unfolded shortly before 3.30pm local time.
Witnesses described pandemonium as the emergency unfolded, near New York University.
“We heard a big sound, then three or four people fell on the street,” Shameem Noor told Reuters news agency.
“People were running and screaming. There’s a big fire on the roof and black smoke.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
