Crime & Safety
Watch: Deadly Brooklyn Apartment Explosion Caught on Video
A New Yorker's nightmare scenario, in slow motion.

Surveillance footage obtained by the New York Daily News shows the moment a Borough Park apartment building burst into flames and collapsed on Saturday afternoon, killing at least one resident inside and injuring a handful of passerby.
A gas leak is believed to have caused the massive explosion in a three-story apartment building at 4206 13th Ave.
Ligia Puello, 64, a resident of the third and top floor of the building, was discovered dead by first responders in the stairwell, the NYPD said in a statement.
And another of the building’s tenants — Francisca Figueroa, 48 — hasn’t been heard from since the explosion, according to ABC7.
The building is now no more than a pile of debris on 13th Avenue.
Rescue crews are digging through the rubble for any signs of Figueroa. Police K9s are assisting with the search, according to the mayor’s office.
“She was a fighter — a real hard worker. She never said no to anything,” the missing woman’s sister, Milagros, told ABC7.
Milagros said she had been on the phone with her sister directly before the explosion. “She was very calm and said she had to clean. It was less than five minutes, and I never spoke to her again,” she said.
Sources told ABC7 that Figueroa, who lived on the second floor, was in the process of moving out of the building, and was planning on taking her gas stove with her.
That same gas stove is reportedly being investigated as the possible cause of the explosion.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams announced on Sunday that he would be encouraging City Hall to pass a bill that would “would require licensure or certification in order to disconnect, replace, or modify gas line connections between the source and a home appliance such as a hot water heater or stove.”
Three additional passerby were injured in the explosion on Saturday — reportedly as they made their way home from synagogue.
A 34-year-old man and his 9-year-old son suffered leg injuries in the blast, police said, as did another 27-year-old man.
According to a fact sheet on the explosion issued by NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio on Sunday, four buildings adjacent to 4206 13th St. have been vacated as firefighters dig through the debris.
Around 50 residents have been displaced.
The American Red Cross will be operating a pop-up service center on Monday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Borough Park Library (1265 43rd St.) “to provide residents with necessary services and answer any questions they may have regarding the explosion,” the mayor’s office said.
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