Police probe 'suicide link' to New York blast

Fire officials in New York are investigating whether a suicidal doctor who was going through a difficult divorce caused an explosion that flattened a four-storey building in the city today.

Authorities said it seemed the thunderous blast on Manhattan’s super-wealthy Upper East Side was the result of a gas explosion.

The building went up in flames and collapsed, injuring at least 15 people including five firefighters.

The owner, 66-year-old doctor Nicholas Bartha, was pulled from the rubble after talking to authorities on his phone from the wreckage.

A police official said a lawyer for his wife recently contacted police and said that she had received an email from him in which he indicated he was contemplating suicide.

“We’re still investigating that, talking about the potential for suicide. So that’s a distinct possibility,” fire chief Nicholas Scoppetta said.

The doctor was being forced to sell the building because of the divorce, the official said.

But there were also reports that there had been ongoing problems with gas leaks at the building.

Dr Bartha and one passer-by suffered severe injuries while the rest of the injuries were minor.

Hundreds of firefighters rushed to the scene after a deafening boom was heard before 9am.

The building had been between taller structures on 62nd Street, just a few blocks from Central Park.

Fire Department Lieutenant Eugene Whyte said the building included two doctors’ offices, as well as at least one apartment.

He said a nurse who was supposed to open one of the doctors’ offices arrived late, narrowly missing the explosion.

TV host Larry King, who had been in his hotel room nearby, described the explosion to CNN as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake.

“I’ve never heard a sound like that,” King said.