A Manhole Cover Exploded In Times Square & Videos Show New Yorkers Panicking In The Street
There was mass confusion after the blast!
A manhole cover exploded without warning in the middle of New York's busy Times Square on Sunday night, sending tourists and locals scrambling in all directions.
The explosion happened around 7 p.m. in the super crowded and touristy Times Square area, where multiple videos captured a loud banging sound.
Confused and frightened people could be seen screaming and running after the explosion, although no one ended up suffering injuries in the incident, NBC News reports.
Twitter user Brad Ball posted a video from Times Square showing the frenzy.
The caption of his video read: “Huge bang in Times Square around 6:50… followed by sirens and hundreds of people running away. Not sure what it was… but a lot of people on edge!”
Video footage posted to the stories of Instagram user Flo Patiño showed huge crowds fleeing as fire trucks approached the area.
A woman can be heard saying “the people are running. Why the people is running?” In the background of the video.
In her stories documenting the ordeal, you can see several NYPD cars and fire trucks scattered in the area and a glimpse of the smoking manhole cover.
Firefighters were called to the scene immediately and investigated the area for carbon monoxide levels, reported CNN.
The explosion was caused by a cable fire, Con Edison spokesperson Karl-Erik Stromsta told CNN. The fire caused one manhole to explode while another was left smoking, said Stromsta.
He added that the explosion did not result in any power outages in the area.