Published: Less than 20 min ago
NEW YORK. First a huge bang – then the whole room shook.
Outside the window, student Zachary Powers, 18, saw the garage next door crumble – and cars fall into a huge crater.
– I was afraid that our house would also collapse, and fled as fast as I could.
18-year-old Zachary Powers was playing video games in his seventh-floor dorm room. At 16.10 on Tuesday afternoon, the button presses were interrupted by a huge bang.
– It sounded like an explosion, or as if lightning had struck. A cloud of smoke hit the window. After that the desktop shook for ten seconds, it felt like an earthquake.
Zachary ran to the window, and saw total chaos below. The multi-story garage next to Pace University in lower Manhattan collapsed before his eyes, giant chunks of cement tumbling to the ground.
– I see how the top floor continues to fall, and how cars fall into a huge crater formed in the middle.
He had time to pick up his mobile phone and film; the clip looks like something out of a Hollywood disaster movie. Then he cooed.
– I was scared, because I thought our building would also collapse because of how much the house was shaking. I got out as fast as I could, in case something was wrong, if it wasn’t an accident.
Outside, he saw people running in panic. A column of smoke. Walls and smashed cars on the pavement. Blood.
– There were two injured people, one bloody, who received treatment. It thankfully did not appear to be life threatening.
Several nearby buildings have been evacuated. Neighbors are still shocked and forced to find alternative accommodation. When the garage collapsed, several of them had large holes in the walls.
One person died and at least five people were injured
Initially, rescue personnel could not go in to carry out a search operation due to the high risk of collapse. Instead, the fire department sent in a robotic dog and used drones.
Samir Hashem, 44, stands outside the cordons and watches the rescue work from a distance.
He is trying to get information about his workplace, he owns the garage next to the one that collapsed. But no one is allowed to enter. Nor are all car owners who have had their vehicles fully covered.
It was Samir’s co-worker who first called and told him what had happened.
– My heart just sank. I said “get out, stick!”. But he didn’t want to, he said he knew a person who was injured. But I said he had to get out right away, save himself.
Samir ran to the scene of the accident. Then he found out that the man who died was a colleague who worked in the garage with him.
– He is a nice person, he always jokes. Helps drive the cars in, says Samir.
So far, the deceased person has not been formally identified. Rescue workers are still struggling to get to his body.
“Everyone is afraid of the garage now”
It is still unclear what caused the collapse. The house is close to a hundred years old, and there were previous complaints about, among other things, visible cracks, according to the TV channel ABC. The next day, during Wednesday, the garage has already begun to be demolished.
Samir thinks that it feels unsafe to go back to his workplace once the police remove the barriers.
– Everyone is afraid of the garage now, he says.
When Aftonbladet meets economics student Zachary Powers, he gets to go back to his student room for the first time in a day. He slept with relatives last night.
– For the first six or seven hours I was quite shaken – because I really thought that our building would also collapse. I was afraid we were about to fall.