A blast in Central Park severed the left foot of a young man visiting New York from northern Virginia Sunday, witnesses said.
The NYPD’s bomb squad was investigating the area of the park near E. 68th St. and Fifth Ave.
Cops at the scene suspected a mishap involving fireworks and said it did not appear an explosive device caused the boom heard from blocks away around 11 a.m.
His foot was “all but gone,” one witness said.
Two of the victim's shocked friends described the ghastly sight moments before being taken away in an ambulance.
"We don't know what happened. There was a small explosion and then dust," said one friend who didn't give his name. "We really don't know."
"We don't know the caliber of the firework," said the second friend.
Police said they were responding to an "amputation incident." Medics rushed the victim to Bellevue Hospital.
The explosion was heard by attendees of Elie Wiesel’s funeral on E. 61st St. — though there was no sign the blast was related to the memorial for the Pulitzer Prize winning Holocaust survivor.
Witness John Murphy, 53, said he tried to keep the young man conscious following the explosion.
"I saw his friends standing there panicking. I saw the young man laying on the grass. His foot is all but gone. His friends claimed he was walking down the rocks and he stepped on it. It looks like there was an explosion,” Murphy said.
He asked the group if they were carrying fireworks or something similar.
“They said, ‘We didn't have anything. He stepped on something!" Murphy recalled.
“It was an explosive of some sort. The damage is just awful. I didn't see any metal. It was very weird.”
He said the victim remained conscious.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/...icle-1.2697682