5 indicted in 2015 NYC gas explosion

A building owner and four others have been indicted on charges that include manslaughter in connection with a gas explosion last year that killed two people and levelled three New York City buildings.

In this 2015 file photo, debris remains after a building collapse in New York.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R Vance jnr and other officials said on Thursday that the charges also include criminally negligent homicide and assault. They say the defendants set up an illegal gas delivery system.

Vance says the carnage was caused by "a foreseeable, preventable and completely avoidable gas explosion". The March 2015 explosion injured 22 people and killed restaurant worker Moises Ismael Locon Yac and diner Nicholas Figueroa.

Two years ago, a gas explosion in an East Harlem building killed eight people and injured about 50. A gas leak was reported before that blast.