A five-story building in New York‘s East Village exploded in flames on Thursday afternoon, drawing more than a hundred firefighters as police shut down nearby streets prior to the building’s collapse.
New Yorkers quickly flooded Twitter with images from all angles, and it was not lost on the tech world that the explosion occurred on the first day that the public could use Twitter’s new livestreaming app, Periscope. Tweets like this one were omnipresent across the social network as people in the area tried to give their followers a sense of what was happening.
The New York Fire Department said that 12 people were injured, three of them seriously or critically, as a result of the explosion and subsequent collapse. Initial reports said that at least 40 people were trapped inside immediately after the explosion.
Major explosion on NW corner of 7th Street and 2nd Ave. Police here. pic.twitter.com/Xys9GBVzF4
— Scott Westerfeld (@ScottWesterfeld) March 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/eichelberger_e/status/581174709921964032
From the scene of the 2nd Ave building collapse http://t.co/HY5AjtbmeL pic.twitter.com/o9IPpxzajr
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) March 26, 2015
Terrible scene: @NYPDSpecialops Aerial view of building collapse @NYPD9Pct. Numerous rescue units on scene: pic.twitter.com/scqF4XK4eb
— David Clinch (@DavidClinchNews) March 26, 2015
Major explosion on 2nd ave and 7th street. New Yorkers being awesome and helping this young lady get down! pic.twitter.com/YxGh2C68IP
— Niraj! ☕️ (@TahitiHee) March 26, 2015
https://twitter.com/JBlock49/status/581190255560290306
YouTube user James Lesni shared this video of the explosion, which he said was “not 30 yards from our kitchen window.”
Photo via blakekathryn/Instagram