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   From: gaychildmolesters@sfmayor.org   
      
   Tribune wire report   
   11:48 a.m. CDT, March 12, 2014   
      
   Two New York buildings collapsed on Wednesday in an explosion   
   believed to be caused by a gas leak, killing at least two   
   people, injuring at least 18, and setting off a search for   
   anyone trapped in the debris, officials said.   
      
   A blast that scattered debris onto nearby rooftops brought down   
   adjacent five-story structures shortly after 9 a.m. EDT on the   
   largely residential block at East 116th Street and Park Avenue   
   in Upper Manhattan.   
      
   Clouds of thick smoke billowed from the rubble of the apartment   
   buildings that sat above a ground-level church and a piano   
   store. Officials declined to give a number of people still   
   missing in the rubble.   
      
   Mayor Bill de Blasio, who rushed to the scene in East Harlem,   
   where a cascade of twisted and burnt metal blocked the sidewalk   
   and covered parked cars, said preliminary information showed the   
   explosion was caused by a gas leak.   
      
   Just before the explosion a resident in a neighboring building   
   complained of a gas odor to Con Edison, officials said.   
      
   "We dispatched a crew two minutes later and the crews arrived   
   just as the explosion occurred," saidAlfonso Quiroz, a spokesman   
   for Con Edison. "We are looking at any connection."   
      
   Neighbors said they thought an earthquake was shaking them from   
   their beds and breakfast tables. The explosion, which could be   
   heard from blocks away, shattered windows around the   
   neighborhood.   
      
   "All of the sudden the whole building shook. We had no idea what   
   was going on," said Robert Pauline, 56, a Columbia University   
   data processor whose apartment six blocks away was rocked by the   
   explosion.   
      
   Police spokesman Martin Speechley said the cause of the   
   explosion was under investigation.   
      
   President Barack Obama was briefed on the collapse and sent his   
   condolences to the victim families and his support to first   
   responders at the scene.   
      
   "Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone impacted by this   
   incident," the White House said in a statement.   
      
   Crowds of residents, their faces covered with protective scarves   
   and masks, filled the sidewalks of surrounding streets, which   
   were blocked off with yellow police tape.   
      
   "It's a very active scene. It's a very chaotic scene," said Fire   
   Department spokesman Michael Parrella.   
      
   Fire trucks used high cranes to spray blasts of water into the   
   rubble, as dozens of ambulances and police cruisers with   
   flashing lights swarmed the scene.   
      
   Commuter trains were stopped on nearby tracks because of the   
   debris on the rails and passengers were ordered off the Metro-   
   North Railroad cars at the Fordham stop in the Bronx, passengers   
   said.   
      
   http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-new-york-building-   
   collapse-20140312,0,1546483.story   
      
       
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
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