2 dead, 1 missing in Brooklyn building collapse

The remains of a building that was destroyed by an explosion Tuesday evening in Brooklyn are removed

July 12, 2000
Web posted at: 10:26 p.m. EDT (0226 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Rescue workers digging brick-by-brick through the rubble of a Brooklyn town home nearly leveled by a suspected gas explosion found a second dead man Wednesday evening and continued their search for one more victim still missing.

At least two other people were injured in the blast.

"It's a gruesome, horrible picture," said Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who toured the scene.

The explosion occurred Tuesday night, causing the four-story brownstone in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill section to collapse like a stack of pancakes. A short time later, all but the facade of the adjacent building also collapsed.

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Using their hands, firefighters dug through the rubble and were able to touch the body of one of the victims, buried under four feet of tightly packed debris. Both recovered bodies were identified by police as males in their 70s.

Officials said the rescue effort was made more difficult because the roof of one of the buildings fell intact.

The three people initially unaccounted for were Harriet and Lenny Wallach , an elderly couple who had just returned from a trip to New England, and a man named Kai Cochran. Police, however, did not immediately identify by name the bodies that were recovered.

The mayor said the Wallachs had invited Cochran into the building because they had detected the smell of gas inside.

"Based on the smell of gas before, the smell of gas after, the fact that Mr. Cochran went in the building to check out the odor of gas, we're assuming as a hypothesis that there was some kind of gas explosion," Giuliani said.

Listen to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani talk about the dangers of the rescue operation ( 377 K/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound)

New York City Fire Commissioner Thomas Von Essen said all signs pointed to a gas explosion as the cause.

The mayor said neighbors had been complaining of a gas smell before the blast.

"I don't know how long they were complaining about it, but it was before the explosion," he said.

Officials from Keyspan Energy, the local gas company, were on the scene along with the New York Department of Environmental Protection, the New York Police Department, and the Red Cross.

Twenty families from nearby buildings were relocated as a precaution.

"It was just one tremendous explosion," said neighbor David Owens. "Just, boom! Nothing like you've ever heard. I've been to the fireworks on the Fourth of July. It's like standing right next to the barge (used to set off fireworks displays)."

The tree-lined street was filled with large piles of rubble and assorted debris. A large yellow crane sat on the edge of the building cavity, but officials said it would not be used to clear the rubble because of the possibility that more victims lay underneath.

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