A suspected manhole explosion triggered mass panic in New York’s Times Square on Sunday evening, with videos from the scene showing alarmed tourists scrambling to flee.
According to reports, at least one manhole cover explosion took place shortly before 7pm (local time) between 7th and 8th avenues - a popular spot among tourists. The area was later cordoned off by the police.
Videos shared on social media show alarmed tourists running away from the site of what one described as a “huge explosion”.
Elevated carbon monoxide levels were found near the area of the blast, police said.
“There’s just a huge explosion,” witness Brad Ball told Fox News. “It didn’t sound extraordinarily close, but definitely was an explosion.”
“This isn’t my normal tweet but tonight I was 10-foot away from an explosion in Times Square, I took this video a few seconds after. I believe it was a fire under-ground that blew up. It’s a miracle no one was hurt,” wrote chef Gary Maclean on Twitter.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, the authorities added.
