Residents jump from Manhattan apartment to escape raging inferno

Published: 9:18AM Friday March 27, 2015 Source: ONE News/AP

Accounts of desperate attempts to flee a raging New York inferno are emerging, with residents seen jumping from fire escapes as they tried to get to safety.

Up to 30 people are thought to be injured in the "major building collapse" during the apartment fire near the corner of Second Avenue and East Seventh Street in Manhattan's East Village.

Niraj Desai, 36, who works nearby, said he saw one woman stuck on a fire escape struggling to get the ladder unhooked, The New York Times reported.

"This poor girl was stuck upstairs," Mr. Desai said. "She was having a hard time. You could tell there was a lot of emotion going on. A bunch of guys were down at the bottom helping her get down."

Another man also made his way down the fire escape ladder before smoke started to pour from the building, he said.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, speaking at a news conference at the scene, said that "preliminary evidence suggests a gas-related explosion" was caused by plumbing and gas work nearby.

Construction worker Matty Disilvestro also described the scene of chaos as the fire engulfed the Manhattan apartment block this morning.

"I heard a loud explosion, just a very loud vibrating boom.People who were on the sidewalks and even people on the opposite side of the street were hit with debris,"told The New York Post.

Robert Shapiro witnessed the fire from nearby cafe. He described the intensity of the fire. "I've never seen such an aggressive fire - it was like they were pouring gas on it," he told the New York Post.

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Residents jump from Manhattan apartment to escape raging inferno