Man dies in New York oil terminal blast

An explosion at the oil storage facility at the edge of New York’s Staten Island has killed one worker and sent black smoke and flames hundreds of feet into the air.

Authorities said there were no indications of terrorism.

A man’s body was pulled from the water three hours after the fire started, said police.

Another worker was unaccounted for and a third person suffered third-degree burns and was in critical condition, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The explosion occurred when a barge containing 100,000 barrels of unleaded petrol was being offloaded at the 200 acre storage facility, said Prem Nair, a spokeswoman for ExxonMobil.

She would not speculate on the cause of the explosion.

Mayor Bloomberg said the blaze was contained mainly on the water and on two barges – the one that exploded and then sank, and another nearby barge that caught fire.

“The fire has basically been burning itself out,” Bloomberg said. “There is absolutely no evidence and no reason this think at this moment that this is anything other than a tragic accident.”

“For a lot of people, the initial reaction was they thought it was another terrorist attack,” said New York Representative Vito Fossella, who represents Staten Island, which suffered heavy losses in the September 11 attack.