Update 11:10
from msnbc web page:
from wnbc.com
- Latest Video: A Look Into Doctor's Past, Emails
- Latest Video: Was Blast Suicide Attempt?
- Images: Building Reduced To Rubble
- Video: Thirst For Revenge May Have Led To Blast
- Video: Blast Rocks Posh Neighborhood
- Video: Neighbor Describes Building Blast
- Video: Jonathan Dienst At Blast Site
- Video: Vivian Lee Reports From The Scene
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Update 8:15 a 7/11
Noticing the morning replay for Keith Olbermann (Countdown)
Mentioned the MD that is a capable demolition artist (refering to this story)
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Update: 9:41 p 7/10
Greta on Fox Nows
Special email from Patsy (23 pages?)
My Wild Speculation about this Event: Zionist Terror Operation
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Drudge Disinfo
NYC building explosion in apparent suicide bid...
'I Will Leave The House Only If I Am Dead'...
MAD DOCTOR OF THE EAST SIDE
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 Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York, July 10, 2006. A four-story building collapsed in Manhattan on Monday after an explosion, the Fire Department said. (Xinhua Photo) |
NEW YORK, July 10 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were injured in an apparent gas blast, possibly triggered by a suicidal attempt, which brought down a four-story apartment building in Manhattan's Upper East Side Monday, city officials said.
Authorities were investigating the possibility that the morning explosion was the result of a suicide attempt by Dr. Nicholas Bartha, the owner of the house. "We're still investigating that, talking about the potential for suicide. So that's a distinct possibility," Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.
Polly Passonneau, a lawyer for Bartha's wife, reportedly contacted police recently saying that her husband sent her an e-mail message, indicating he was contemplating suicide.
The doctor was forced to sell the building because of the divorce, and authorities believe that the explosion may be related to a suicide attempt involving gas.
Bartha, the only person inside when the blast occurred, was pulled from the rubble after communicating with authorities from his phone in the wreckage, Scoppetta said. He was among at least 15 injured, including 10 firefighters battling the blaze.
Ten firefighters and five civilians, including two seriously injured, were treated at area hospitals and at the scene.
The building housed Bartha's office and his apartment, in addition to another medical office, records show. The blaze had intensified to five alarms around 10:20 a.m. with 44 units and nearly 200 firefighters on the scene.
The medical offices opened at 9 a.m., so there were likely no patients yet in the building when the blast occurred, said NYPD spokesman Lieutenant Gene White.
Witnesses described hearing a large explosion before the collapse.
"The building just blew up," said Yaakov Kermaier, 36, who was across the street from the explosion after returning from synagogue services.
Several streets in the affected area were closed, affecting city bus service. Several uptown bus lines were diverted to other streets. Enditem
Building collapses in New York City after explosion
Related: Building collapses in explosion in New York
NEW YORK, July 10 (Xinhua) -- A three-story building on Manhattan's East Side collapsed following an explosion on Monday, the Fire Department said.
Heavy black smoke rose high above the building across Midtown and Manhattan's Upper East Side. Local media reported that people were trapped inside the building, but this was not immediately confirmed by fire officials.
At least two people were under evaluation in hospital.
The New York Fire Department received a call reporting the explosion at 8:40 a.m. (1340 GMT). Streets around the area were closed off to traffic as ambulances and rescue units responded just before 9 a.m. (1400 GMT).
The cause of the explosion was still unknown. A Fire Department official said it "appeared to be a gas explosion."
White House spokesman Tony Snow also said that the incident had not been an act of terrorism. "As far as we know at this point, no terrorism nexus."
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http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20060710-093430-1527r.htm
Gas explosion causes brownstone collapse
Jul. 10, 2006 at 3:43PM
A doctor was critically injured Monday morning when the New York brownstone where he lived and worked collapsed after an apparent gas explosion.Dr. Nicholas Bartha is believed to have been alone in the four-story building at the time of the blast shortly before 9 a.m., The New York Times reported. He was able to guide rescue workers by using his cell phone and was pulled from the wreckage at about 10 a.m.
Four pedestrians near the building were also injured by falling debris and several firefighters were injured but all were listed in stable condition, the Times reported.
New York City Fire Chief Nicholas Scoppetta said that residents of the neighborhood reported smelling gas before the explosion.
"I ran out and saw the building -- the floor, I saw it sliding down," Derrick Keo, an employee at a private club nearby, told the Times.
Adam Schare, a 10-year-old from Los Angeles staying at the Regency Hotel with his parents, said his first reaction was that an earthquake had struck.
Officials say that terrorism has been ruled out.
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NYC building collapses after explosion, fireAssociated Press
NEW YORK — A four-story building housing doctors' offices collapsed and burned in an apparent gas explosion today after what witnesses described as a thunderous blast that rocked an upscale neighborhood just off Madison Avenue.
At least 11 people were injured — five civilians and six firefighters, the Fire Department said. One of the injured was the doctor who owned the building and was pulled from the rubble after communicating with rescuers by phone, fire chief Nicholas Scoppetta said.
"This could have been an even worse disaster than it already is," Scoppetta said.
Scoppetta said authorities were investigating the possibility that the blast was the result of a suicide attempt. "We're still investigating that, talking about the potential for suicide. So that's a distinct possibility."
A police official told The Associated Press that the lawyer for the doctor's wife contacted police recently and said that she had received an e-mail from him in which the physician, 66-year-old Nicholas Bartha, indicated he was contemplating suicide.
He was going through a difficult divorce and was being forced to sell the building, and authorities believe the explosion may have be related to a suicide attempt, the police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
Power company Con Edison said its crews had been responding to complaints from a gas customer at an adjacent building at the time of the blast. White House press secretary Tony Snow said there was no indication of terrorism.
Yaakov Kermaier, 36, a resident in a building next door, said he was outside when he heard "a deafening boom. I saw the whole building explode in front of me."
"Everybody started running, nobody knew what was coming next," he said. His nanny and newborn escaped from their next-door apartment unharmed.
The building on Manhattan's Upper East Side included two doctors' offices, and records show at least one apartment was in the building, Fire Department Lt. Eugene Whyte said. Authorities said a nurse who was supposed to open one of the offices arrived late, narrowly missing the explosion.
Heavy black smoke rose high above the building, wedged between taller structures on 62nd Street between Park and Madison Avenues just a few blocks from Central Park. Bricks, glass and splintered wood was littered across the block, and windows in a neighboring building were blown out.
Thad Milonas, 57, was operating a coffee cart across from the building when he said the ground shook and the building came down, said he helped two bleeding women from the scene.
TV host Larry King, who had been in a hotel room nearby, described the explosion to CNN as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake.
"I've never heard a sound like that," King said.
Streets around the area were closed off to traffic as ambulances and rescue units responded about 8:40 a.m.
The building is an upscale neighborhood where the 2000 Census put the median home price at $1 million. On one corner of the street is the high-end Luca Luca clothing store, and across the street is the French retailer Hermes.
===================================================================Probe focuses on doctor in building collapse
Newsday, NY -
An explosion, likely fueled by a gas leak, leveled a ... Investigators Monday were looking into whether the doctor who owned the building, Nicholas Bartha, 66 ...
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Suicide Attempt Probed in NYC Collapse
Forbes -
A four-story building on Manhattan's Upper East Side ... pile of rubble Monday after a thunderous explosion that hurled ... said the blast was caused by gas, and they ...
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Access to plant the bomb
"Power company Consolidated Edison said an employee had been in the basement of an adjacent building responding to a complaint about a smell of gas at the time of the blast. The employee was unhurt.
The utility had been at the Bartha building June 8 after a routine check found a gas leak on a pipe in the basement. The gas was shut off, and Nicholas Bartha was asked to get the pipe fixed, spokesman Joe Petta said. The gas was turned back on the utility ensured the leak was fixed.
Yaakov Kermaier, 36, a resident in a building next door, said he was outside when he heard "a deafening boom. I saw the whole building explode in front of me."
http://www.sierratimes.com/rss/newswire.php?article=/news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060711/ap_on_re_us/building_collapse&time=1152581069&feed=us
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Court documents say Bartha subjected his wife, a Jewish woman born in Nazi-occupied Holland, to cruelty and placed "swastika-adorned articles and notes affixed around their home, and became enraged when she removed them."
NYC building collapses after 'gas' blast
The Age, Australia -
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Ground shakes then building collapses1:21am | A three-storey building on Manhattan's East Side went up in flames and collapsed on Monday after what witnesses said was a thunderous explosion.
technorati tags:NYC, Manhatten, East_Side, Building_Collapse
