Federal Probe initiated, some still missing

New York:  An explosion in the East Harlem neighborhood of New York caused the swift and complete collapse of two buildings, leaving at least eight people dead and over 60 injured.

“This is a tragedy of the worst kind because there was no indication in time to save people,” New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said in a press conference.

Rescue workers using dogs and thermal-detection gear to search rubble for more victims of a gas explosion found an eighth body  while investigators tried to pinpoint the leak and determine whether it had anything to do with the city’s aging gas and water mains, some from the 1800s.

At least five people were unaccounted for after the deafening blast Wednesday morning destroyed two five-story East Harlem apartment buildings that were served by an 1887 cast-iron gas main.Federal safety authorities launched an investigation into a gas.

Deadly blast in New York City