Third body found in debris of Brooklyn building

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

July 13, 2000
Web posted at: 5:20 a.m. EDT (0920 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- A third body was found late on Wednesday in the rubble of two Brooklyn houses destroyed by an explosion that New York City police say may have been caused by a natural gas leak.

Detective Lisa Guerriero said early on Thursday, "A third body was found and removed."

Earlier, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said that firefighters have clawed through the debris since the blast on Tuesday night. They saw a pair of sneakers and found the body of another victim buried under three or four feet of rubble.

The cause of the explosion has not been confirmed, though officials suspect a natural gas leak. A spokesman for the Key Span Energy utility company said a preliminary investigation had not confirmed a leak.

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The explosion caused a four-story brownstone in Brooklyn's Cobble Hill section to collapse and flatten. A short time later all but the facade of the adjacent building also collapsed.

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.

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.

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.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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New York City Police Department
New York City Fire Department
KeySpan Energy

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