[Batpuff]

NEW YORK — A huge explosion leveled a townhouse building in the heart of midtown Manhattan Monday, injuring several people, and fire officials are investigating whether the explosion was the result of a suicide-by-gas attempt.

Investigators were focusing on an e-mail from the building's owner, doctor Nicholas Bartha, whose practice was housed in the demolished building.

At least 11 people were injured in Monday's blast, which leveled the three-story New York City building into a smoky pile of rubble.

“There was so much blood,” said Karen Morris, a nurse who aided victims. Morris treated survivors for welts, splinters and cuts.

Among the 14 wounded were five firefighters and six pedestrians, including Bartha, who was listed in critical condition at a local hospital. The doctor, who specializes in emergency medicine, was pulled from the rubble after using a phone to communicate with authorities, sources said.

The blast scattered bricks, glass and splintered wood across the block and shattered windows in a neighboring building. Several people were carried off on stretchers as firefighters doused the structure’s remains.

Across the street in the Regency Hotel, visitor Allan Schare and his family were jolted from sleep. “I heard and felt the explosion — my kids levitated out of bed,” he said.
We first thought: earthquake. We’re from Los Angeles.”
Counterterrorism officials told FOX News there is no evidence to indicate the blast is related to terrorism but investigators were probing Bartha's electronic communication, New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said.

Involved in a messy divorce, Bartha wrote the e-mail to his wife, Cordula, indicating his wish to commit suicide, officials told FOX News.

As part of the adjudictation of that divorce, Bartha, 66, was being made to sell the building, sources said.

The edifice houses doctors’ offices and six apartments.

Power company Con Edison said its crews had been responding to complaints from a gas customer at an adjacent building when the blast occurred. Gas also was shut off to three nearby buildings.

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. Damage, including shattered windows, could be seen at one of the adjoining buildings.

“The building adjacent to the structure that collapsed had some damage … five to 10 of the front windows had been blown out,” Red Cross spokesman Michael Virgintino said.

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 Red Cross was meeting with people evacuated from nearby buildings, Virgintino said.

“We were told to leave the building,” said area resident Vivian Horan.

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.

Streets around the area were closed to traffic as ambulances and rescue units raced to the area just before 9 a.m.

FOXNews.com's Heather Scroope and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[BC75]

Bat keep us updated on this one, might be another case for our junior detectives.
Mainly lets try an find out if the people are ok.

[15thRegionCrazy]

That is crazy...I hope everybody fully recovers