article_snippet: A former male model and a restaurant bus boy are both missing after a building exploded in New York City on Thursday afternoon.
article_snippet: Police said Police also are trying to determine whether six other people reported missing - but not thought to have been in the destroyed buildings - were connected to a massive explosion  .
article_snippet: On Friday, Firefighters used high-powered water towers to extinguish pockets of fire still burning at the site.
article_snippet: Pommes Frites, the restaurant that collapsed next to explosion site, said on Facebook that all Facebook staff are safe.
article_snippet: A suspected gas explosion saw the building collapse at around 3.15pm on Thursday .
article_snippet: An image taken on Friday morning shows the huge hole where the three buildings once stood .
article_snippet: Intense flames consumed buildings on Second Avenue and 7th Street following the explosion at 3.15pm - about an hour after Con Edison inspectors visited the building and found the gas-related work being done there 'unacceptable,' according to officials. '
article_snippet: Preliminary evidence suggests a gas-related explosion,' New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
article_snippet: New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the incident 'appears to have been caused by plumbing and gas work that occurred in 121 2nd Avenue' and the the investigation is ongoing.
article_snippet: After a gas-related explosion, the site of the blast and two neighboring buildings caught alight, eventually causing all three to crumble to the ground - leaving a massive hole on the end of the block.
article_snippet: Nineteen people were injured, four of the site of the blast and two neighboring buildings caught alight critically.
article_snippet: Five first responders, among the site of the blast and two neighboring buildings caught alight four firefighters and an EMS worker, also suffered minor injuries.
article_snippet: Two of the critical patients have been taken to New York-Presbyterian Hospital Cornell suffering from burns to their airways.
highlights_snippet: Nicholas Figueroa, 23, took a co-worker to Sushi Park on Thursday afternoon when a massive explosion  set the building alight .
  