Two bodies were found in the rubble Sunday at the site of the East Village explosion that sparked a massive fire and caused three buildings to collapse last week, according to officials.
One body was discovered at around 1 p.m. and was not immediately identified, according to a law enforcement source. Recovery workers didn’t immediately remove the corpse from the scene. The mayor’s office said it would release more information after the person had been identified and family notified.
A second body was recovered at about 4 p.m.
Related: Scene at NYC building collapse ‘extremely chaotic’
Two men have been reported missing and are believed to have been inside a sushi restaurant on the ground floor of one of the collapsed buildings: Moises Lucon, 26, who worked at the restaurant, and Nicholas Figueroa, who had been there on a date.
The search of the rubble was still continuing Sunday. Workers raked through piles of loose brick, wood and debris with tools and their hands and using dogs to search the rubble where the explosion and subsequent fire on Thursday leveled three apartment buildings.
After inspection, the debris was being placed in containers that were to be stored by the city, in case there was further need to examine them, a city official said. Authorities acknowledged the chances of finding anyone alive were slim. The gas blast on Second Avenue sparked a seven-alarm fire that injured more than two dozen people, including six firefighters and an EMS responder. Four were critically hurt. Read more at NBC News New York
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