A fiery blast of building injured a dozen people in East Village, New York

Officials said that at least three critically, leveled the structure and a neighboring one in a fiery blast. A little more than an hour before the incident, inspectors from New York’s gas utility were at a building in Manhattan’s East Village on Thursday and that was before the fiery blast injured a dozen people.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said, there were no reports of gas leaks beforehand and added, the explosion appeared to be “gas-related,” and investigation still running on.

While the name of the contractor was not provided, investigators were talking with the Con Edison employees who inspected the work of private contractors at the building. De Blasio said

The mayor said that they have to put those pieces together and they are not going to speculate on details until having a full report.

In late afternoon, the explosion rocked a heavily traveled section the East Village, scattering debris, forcing the closure of streets and injuring some people with burns in their airways.

At least two other neighboring buildings were damaged as the officials said where one of it in danger of collapse and no one was believed to be trapped in the two collapsed buildings.

The first two floors of a five-story, red-brick building collapsed onto each other and the images from the scene also showed that the neighboring building soon was leveled by the intense fire.