Blast rips through Chelsea street: 'Everybody started running' - NY Daily News

An explosion ripped through a Chelsea street Saturday night — injuring at least 29 people and sending horrified witnesses scattering, Fire Department sources said.

The blast blew out the ground floor windows of the Associated Blind Housing facility at 135 W. 23rd St. near Sixth Ave. at about 8:30 p.m., a witness and an FDNY spokesman said.

"Officials are on the scene of an explosion on West 23 St in Manhattan at least 26 people injured. An unknown device was inside a dumpster," Sergeants Benevolent Association head Ed Mullins tweeted. 

The NYPD Counterterrorism Unit tweeted a photo of a mangled piece of the dumpster. 

Pipe bomb explodes at Marines charity race on N.J. boardwalk

Police and FDNY units also responded to reports of a possible second explosive device found in a Dodge Caravan on 27th St., between 6th and 7th Aves., just before 11 p.m.

The NYPD was questioning a possible suspect picked up about eight blocks away from the blast, sources said.

A witness said he felt and heard the blast while entering the 23rd St. subway station with his family.

Ryan McMillen, a history professor at Mercy College, turned around and saw the back of an SUV "totally blown out."

"Everybody started running and screaming," McMillen said. "It felt like a pipe bomb. It wasn't huge. It was some sort of a bomb. It wasn't a car backfiring."

Others said that the streets turned to chaos after the blast.

Architect Anthony Morali, 58, was walking from his home in Chelsea to the nearby Slattery's bar to play darts when the explosion nearly knocked him to the ground.

"What I first heard was a tremendous loud sound, boom!" he said. "I thought it was a gas explosion. It sounded like when they drop those huge steel plates on the street.

"I just saw a lady with a baby carriage running. The police were guiding her right through," he said.

Olive McFarland, 40, from the Bronx, was working in the display window at Burlington Coat Factory, on 6th Ave., when the explosion sent people rushing into the store from the street.

"We all heard a big explosion," she said. "A lot of people were coming into the store. They didn't know what happened so they kept rushing in. They were panicking."

11 photos view gallery

Explosion in Chelsea

Chelsea residents said the explosion rattled buildings blocks away.

"I ran because the building was shaking. I saw smoke. It was like a huge mushroom cloud. My ear was ringing," said Soleil Filomena, 64. "It was so scary. Everybody started running."

The street was flooded with NYPD officers who immediately began clearing the streets and searching garbage cans and other areas for secondary devices as a precaution.

The explosion comes just hours after a pipe bomb exploded in Seaside Park, N.J.

The device, which was placed in a garbage can, went off as the Semper Five K Charity Run was about to start. There were no reported injuries.  

As a result of the blast, E and F trains are currently bypassing 23 St in both directions. 

The NYPD Bomb Squad is on scene investigating along with the FBI and ATF.

The device may have been a pipe bomb, sources said.  

President Obama has been apprised of the explosion "the cause of which remains under investigation," according to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, Police Commissioner James O’Neill and FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro were expected to hold a press conference around 11 p.m.

Saturday was O'Neill's first full day on the job after replacing Bill Bratton as NYPD commissioner.

The 29 injured were all taken to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries, according to a source.

Meanwhile in Colorado Springs — before any official word on what caused the blast was announced — GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stepped off his private jet at 9 p.m. and told supporters "a bomb went off in New York."

"Nobody knows exactly what's going on, but boy we are living in a time," he said. "We better get very tough, folks."

Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign said that she had been briefed and was monitoring the situation.

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