NEW YORK — Rescue workers using dogs and thermal-detection gear to search rubble for more victims of a gas explosion found an eighth body on Thursday, while investigators tried to pinpoint the leak and determine whether it had anything to do with New York’s aging gas and water mains, some dating to the 1800s.
At least five people were unaccounted for after the deafening blast Wednesday morning destroyed two five-story brick apartment buildings in East Harlem. More than 60 people were injured.
Officials said that if the buildings were plagued in recent days by gas odors, as some tenants claimed, they have no evidence anyone reported it before Wednesday.
Aging infrastructure has become a major concern in recent years in older cities in the Northeast, and has been blamed for explosions, floods and other accidents. But many cities say they just don’t have the money to fix the problem.
