NEW YORK -- Rescuers clawing through bricks pulled a 7-month-old baby and four other victims to safety Thursday in upper Manhattan after a former supermarket under demolition suddenly collapsed, sending a shower of rubble onto the sidewalk and street.
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City firefighters and police were on the scene within minutes of the collapse, which trapped the pedestrians beneath the remnants of the crumbling building at Broadway and West 100th Street. Some of the victims were possibly waiting at a nearby city bus shelter, which was crushed in the accident.
"I thought it was a terrorist bomb, people were running everywhere," said Racquel Gayle, who was a half-block away when she heard a loud boom. "I saw them pull a baby out of the debris. Everyone was pitching in and helping, but I stood frozen in fear. I've never seen anything like this."
The 7-month-old girl was expected to survive, and none of the pedestrians' injuries were life-threatening, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. One of the survivors suffered two broken arms and two broken legs, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said at a news conference near the site.
The commissioner said the building's front wall and roof came down, taking the surrounding scaffolding with it.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation, and authorities immediately ordered a halt to the ongoing demolition of the former Gristedes supermarket. Work on the site began several weeks ago as the property owner cleared the way for a controversial 31-story apartment building.
Jennifer Kumble, who lives two blocks from the site, arrived at the site a minute after the accident while bringing her 3-year-old son to day camp.
"I saw rubble everywhere," she said. "People were standing there crying. It was quite disastrous. It's amazing that more people weren't hurt."
Two 56-year-old women, along with the infant, were in stable condition at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center, said spokesman Don Maxton. They were all being kept overnight for observation, he said.
Paramedics who pulled the girl from the collapsed building said that the stroller she was in may have saved her life, NewsChannel 4 reported.
"The stroller had a pocket," said one paramedic. "So I guess all the debris fell on top of the stroller and collapsed the stroller, like in a collapsed position and that entailed, like, a pocket for the child."
The other two pedestrians were in stable condition at Harlem Hospital. Five firefighters were injured in the rescue effort, including one who suffered a broken ankle, Scoppetta said.
All 25 construction workers at the site were quickly located.
The infant's mother, reached at the pediatric unit at St. Luke's-Roosevelt, declined to speak with a reporter.
Authorities were investigating whether a piece of construction equipment loaded on the building roof earlier Thursday was the cause of the collapse, said Buildings Commissioner Patricia Lancaster. He said the company had all the required permits.
The Buildings Department had no record of complaints or violations related to the demolition, said spokeswoman Jennifer Givner.
At least 30 fire department units responded to the collapse. The supermarket was closed in April and sold to the Carlyle Group and Extell Development.
The demolition work was directed by the Bronx-based Safeway Environmental Corp., which Extell described in a statement as "one of the city's premier union demolition companies with a long record of safe performance."
Extell pledged its cooperation with the city's investigation.
Residents have opposed the plan to build a 31-story skyscraper on the site, and have held ongoing protests -- one as recently as Wednesday night.
© 2005 by WNBC.com The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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