NY Daily News – March 30, 2015
by Caitlin Nolan , Edgar Sandoval , Ben Kochman , Stephen Rex Brown
A $13 tab and a twist of fate doomed a young man in the hellacious East Village explosion.
One of the two people killed in the gas blast that leveled three Second Ave. buildings died when he left his table to settle the tab at Sushi Park. His lunch date survived when the force of the explosion blew her out of the eatery.
The body of Nicholas Figueroa, 23, was recovered Sunday from the Second Ave. rubble, along with another victim believed to be restaurant worker Moises Lucon, 26.
“Nicholas got up to pay his check. He was at the back of the restaurant at the time of the explosion,” said Awilda Cordero, a family spokeswoman.
“His lady friend is better and survived because she got blown into the street,” Cordero said.
Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Sunday that the bodies were recovered at 1:11 p.m. and 3:41 p.m., after cadaver dogs sniffed them out.
He said one of the dead men was found 20 feet from the entrance of Sushi Park at 121 Second Ave., while the second was discovered 20 feet deeper into the restaurant.
Figueroa’s heartbroken family confirmed his body was found in the collapsed building.
He was on the lunchtime date at Sushi Park with a co-worker from Bowlmor Lanes at Chelsea Piers when the blast ripped through the restaurant.
His relatives went to the site Thursday after checking his bank records and discovering Figueroa had just paid the $13.04 bill when the explosion occurred at 3:15 p.m.
Nigro said authorities were still searching through the wreckage given the “very slight chance” of another victim.
Relatives of both Figueroa and Lucon, an immigrant from Guatemala, had kept a vigil at the blast site, praying for two miracles.
When the first body was recovered Sunday, Figueroa’s brother initially refused to accept the grim news.
“That’s not him. God, that’s not him!” Neal Figueroa said.
Hours later, the family confirmed the awful outcome at the city medical examiner’s office.
Neal Figueroa was inconsolable and sobbed as two cousins carried him into an NYPD ambulance.
“They found him. His body is all intact. Nothing burned him,” Cordero said.
“It’s very hard. The family is distraught. They are going home now to prepare the funeral arrangements,” she added, thanking first responders and all who expressed their condolences.
Three of Lucon’s brothers left the medical examiner’s office without commenting as they wiped away tears. DNA testing is being done to identify the badly damaged body believed to be their sibling, police sources said.
Figueroa, the oldest of four brothers, had just finished his meal with Teresa Galarce, 22, of Brooklyn, when all hell broke loose.
The resulting fire from the blast engulfed neighboring buildings at 119, 123 and 125 Second Ave.
Galarce escaped with a broken nose, broken rib and a punctured lung, her sister said.
Acceptance of the tragedy was starting to set in after three awful days of desperation and prayer.
“He was family. He was a brother. He was a man. He was everything in a man you could ask for,” said Kevin Rivera, Figueroa’s cousin.
The family had held onto their fraying hope at the scene Sunday morning. They had missing person flyers and a sign that said: #Pleasefindnicholas.
“It’s a beautiful sunny day out here, Nick, come out and smile!” Neal Figueroa shouted as police, firefighters and cadaver dogs sifted through the debris. “Please find Nick! Don’t give up on us! My brother’s in there, he’s strong!”
The Figueroas tossed white roses in the direction of the site and urged other onlookers to do the same.
A woman leaving church handed Neal Figueroa a palm leaf to mark Palm Sunday.
A small crowd chanted: “Please find Nick!”
But hours later, Cordero said the confirmation of Figueroa’s awful fate at least provided an end to the uncertainty.
“It’s kind of a relief because they were waiting and waiting,” she said.
Lucon worked as a busboy at the sushi joint. He was saving money for his family in Guatemala.
“I saw that young man every day,” said Michael Schumacher, co-owner of a food market near the sushi restaurant. “Every single day we had a chat — you know, ‘How’s business?’ The kid worked hard for his family. He’s gone. He’s gone.”
City Hall said 50 firefighters remained at the scene Sunday. Roughly 750 cubic yards — or a third of the total debris — had been removed as of 7 a.m.
Before the wreckage was hauled away, it was inspected by firefighters, cops and other officials, as well as cadaver dogs. Searchers have yet to reach the basement, which is thought to be the source of the explosion.
Sixty apartments in the vicinity of the explosion remain unsafe and the residents have been ordered to vacate them — down from 141 apartments Saturday, authorities said.
A total of 64 households — 125 adults and five children — registered with the Red Cross for help with housing following the blast, officials said.
The FDNY declared the fires at the site officially under control at 6 p.m.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office and city Department of Investigation are examining whether unapproved tapping into gas lines may have contributed to the blast.
This past Aug. 6, Con Ed workers found several leaks from hoses attached to the line, leading to the utility shutting off gas to the building for 10 days.
The day of the explosion, contractors were doing plumbing and gas work in the basement of the building, officials said.
Some tenants have said they were instructed by their landlord to call her to report gas problems, not Con Ed or 911 like city officials insist should have occurred.
“There may have been inappropriate tampering with the gas lines inside the building. But until we get full evidence we can’t conclude that,” Mayor de Blasio said.
“The situation appears to be particular to this building . . . We’re not hearing of a particular trend at this point in time.”
Nevertheless, Sen. Chuck Schumer said he was concerned about the implications of the second gas-related explosion in just over a year in the city. In March 2014, an explosion in East Harlem leveled two buildings, killing eight people and injuring dozens.
“It looks like someone was tapping into the gas line. How often do tap-ins occur? What kind of dangers do they present?” Schumer asked, adding he planned to grill Con Ed about how it monitors and investigates the tampering.
With Laura Bult, Joseph Stepansky, Erin Durkin
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