Probers focus on gas line
INVESTIGATORS probing the cause of the thunderous East Village explosion are looking into the possibility that someone tampered with the gas line, Mayor de Blasio said Friday.
“There is a possibility here that a gas line was inappropriately accessed internally by people in the building,” de Blasio said in a City Hall news conference.
Investigators were still trying to figure out what kind of work — if any — was being done in the basement of 121 Second Ave. before the Thursday afternoon blast that injured 22 people and left two others missing.
Permits for plumbing and other work had been signed off on last fall. Any new work — barring minor repairs — would have required a new permit.
Authorities know that plumber Jerry Ioannidis, 58, and general contractor Dilber Kukic, 39, were in the building some 45 minutes before the blast.
What remains unclear is whether any work was being done at the time.
“We don’t know what was going on yesterday — whether people were there actually doing work,” FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro said.
Two Con Edison workers visited the doomed building at about 2 p.m. for a scheduled appointment to check on an upgraded gas line. The new pipe didn’t pass muster because it didn’t provide enough space for a meter, officials said.
Neither Kukic (photo) nor Ioannidis, both of whom met with the inspectors, could be reached for comment Friday.
Con Edison President Craig Ivey, speaking after the press conference, said the existing gas line was “for the restaurant only.”
Asked how the apartments above were getting service, Ivey admitted that he had no idea.
“That’s a great question,” he said.