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Five indicted in deadly NYC explosion

Posted at 12:07 PM, Feb 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-12 09:34:01-05

A building owner and four others have been indicted on charges that include manslaughter in connection with a gas explosion last year that killed two people and leveled three New York City buildings.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and other officials said Thursday that the charges also include criminally negligent homicide and assault. They say the defendants set up an illegal gas delivery system.

Vance says the carnage was caused by "a foreseeable, preventable and completely avoidable gas explosion."

The March 2015 explosion injured 22 people and killed restaurant worker Moises Ismael Locon Yac and diner Nicholas Figueroa, who attended Buffalo State College.

Two years ago, a gas explosion in an East Harlem building killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported before that blast.