Two bodies found in rubble of New York explosion

Two bodies have been found in the rubble of the Manhattan collapse and authorities say everyone is now accounted for since the apparent gas blast that caused a massive fire, destroying three buildings and damaging a fourth.

Debris from collapsed buildings smolders in the East Village neighborhood of New York. Image by (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Rescuers in New York had been looking for signs of two missing men since Thursday’s explosion in which 22 people were injured, four of them critically. Officials suspect someone may have improperly tapped a gas line serving one of the buildings.

During their search, authorities said they believed the men had been inside a ground floor sushi restaurant at the time of the explosion. They were 26-year-old Moises Lucon, who worked at the restaurant, and Nicholas Figueroa, 23, a bowling alley worker who had been there on a date.

A debris pile remains in the aftermath of a building collapse following an explosion and fire in the East Village neighborhood in New York. Image by (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

“We continue to search although there are no other missing persons,” Fire commissioner Daniel Nigro said after the bodies were pulled from the wreckage. “So the feeling is everyone who had been reported missing has now been found.”

He said the families of the two men had been informed.

Flowers lay scattered on the ground Sunday, March 29, 2015, across the street from the site of an apparent gas explosion that took place three days earlier in the East Village neighborhood of New York. Image by (AP Photo/Tina Fineberg)

The names of the two dead were not officially released but a spokesman for the Figueroa family confirmed his body had been pulled from the wreckage.

Earlier, several members of the family visited the blast site in the East Village neighbourhood, holding flowers and crying.

During the day workers raked through piles of loose brick and wood and rescue teams sent search dogs over debris where three apartment buildings once stood.

New York mayor Bill de Blasio said someone may have improperly tapped a gas line before the explosion that injured 22 people, four of them critically.

The blast happened a little over a year after a gas explosion in a building in East Harlem killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported shortly before that blast.

(Press Association)