Man seriously injured in explosion in Central Park, New York City
On Saturday a young man from Virginia was the victim of an apparent home-made explosive device left in New York’s Central Park. The 18-year-old tourist was in town for July 4th festivities, when he and his friend jumped from a rock while exploring the historic park, inadvertently detonating the device.
The victim’s foot was severed above the ankle, and he is being treated at a local hospital for this critical injury. The bomb squad is investigating. It’s possible this was a careless attempt to make home-made fireworks that initially failed to explode, and was left behind in the park.
Though thoughts of terrorism easily comes to mind in such circumstances, evidence at the scene suggests the device wasn’t deliberately planted to be detonated by a foot fall, and authorities aren’t aware of and credible threats to New York City over the July 4th holiday weekend. Authorities stress the dangers of experimenting with home-made fireworks. The creation of these devices should be left to professionals, and amateur experiments often lead to terrible tragedies.
Learn more about the dangerous explosion in Central Park (CNN)
Photo: by Ed Yourdon , license: CC BY-SA 2.0 (image resized and sharpened)
