A gas explosion Thursday night at a New York City high school construction site injured three workers and significantly damaged the building.
The John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx was having renovation work done on its science labs when the blast hit,
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio told The Associated Press.
Private contractors were working on the sixth floor gas line, and three workers were seriously burned when it exploded. Seven people had been
working in the area, The New York Times reported.
"The whole building shook for a very short time, like an earthquake," Eric Kumaga, who lives across the street, told AP.
Eddie Flores was also nearby when the explosion occurred. A former Marine, he told The Times that the explosion "was like a shell exploded. "
Police told the newspaper that floors four, five, and six were heavily damaged in the explosion and, from the street, it was apparent windows were blown out on the sixth floor.
"This building has been seriously damaged although the structural damage is very little," Daniel A. Nigro, the New York City fire commissioner, said "It’s something to do with the gas lines in this building, we do know that, but what caused this explosion, we do not know that."
De Blasio told the AP that more than 4,000 students attend school in the building, and said it has not yet been determined if the building will even be partially opened by the time school starts Sept. 9.
Fox News reported in a tweet that a generator may have exploded.
But The Times said workers failed to completely drain the gas line where they were working. Investigators are still working to determine what may have happened.
As word of the explosion spread online, some expressed thankfulness the accident didn’t occur when students were in the building.
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