Security Footage Showing the Blast on Second Avenue

Security vision has captured the moment a gas explosion ripped through the five-storey mixed business and residential property in Lower Manhattan, destroying two buildings, igniting neighbouring structures, and leaving a third in danger of collapse. One man is missing, namedas 23-year-old Nicholas Figueroa, who was on a date in the East Village sushi restaurant where the explosion is believed to have occurred about 3.20pm. Some reports suggest that inspectors from the city's gas utility were at the scene just an hour or so before the explosion, which Mayor Bill de Blasio said was "gas-related". Apparently the Consolidated Edicon inspectors were "evaluating the metre installation for a new service" to the building. The utility has confirmed the new metre did not pass inspection, meaning that it "wasn't ready for gas to be introduced".