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One dead, 20 injured in underground pipe burst in New York

Panic gripped the city after an underground pipe carrying steam at high pressure burst in mid town Manhattan, killing one and injuring 20 others, two of them seriously.

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NEW YORK: Panic gripped the city after an underground pipe carrying steam at high pressure burst in mid town Manhattan, killing one and injuring 20 others, two of them seriously.

The explosion with a huge roar, which occurred on Wednesday evening, sent geyser of scalding steam, water, mud and debris high above the 77-storey Chrysler building, one of the tallest structures in the city.

Hundreds of people ran from the scene in panic, dropping their handbags, brief cases and some without shoes apparently believing it might a terrorist act.

But authorities moved quickly to assure that it was due to a pipe burst, something Manhattan has seen earlier too.

"There is no reason to believe whatsoever that this is anything other than a failure of infrastructure," Mayor Michael Bloomberg saidat the accident site within an hour of workers shutting off the steam.

"A 24-inch steam pipe installed in 1924 burst with explosion most likely to be caused by introduction of cold water in the pipe," he said.

Thousands of people from the nearby building were evacuated, police closed more than 2 square kilometers area, underground local train services were suspended on several routes and bus services disrupted at the height of evening rush hour.

Commuters ran out of the multi-level Grand Central train station, used by tens of thousands every day, as workers shouted instructions that all leave the terminal.

Millions of pounds of steam are pumped through underground pipes in the city every hour, heating or cooling thousands of buildings.

The area where the pipe burst, has high rise office and residential buildings.

It was unclear when the residents would be allowed back as the engineers were examining the structure integrity. Window panes had cracked on the multi-storey buildings in the vicinity of the explosion.

The immediate concern was asbestos pollution as old pipes had layers of it and officials advised those within the vicinity to discard the clothes they are wearing and take a shower on reaching home. The asbestos particles are so fine that it is difficult to see them on clothes.

Some of relief workers and police personnel wore masks but most worked without them.

The city is finding it difficult to replace the ageing infrastructure as lack of funds are needed to undertake huge projects.

It took almost two hours to shut down the steam on the pipeline and when it cleared, a crater several feet wide could be seen. A red tow truck lay in the crater and buses and taxis which stood nearby, were abandoned by the passengers.

Later in the evening, officials said they were still verifying the cause of the blast.

The city had witnesses a similar explosion in 1989 which had killed three people.

 

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