MASSIVE BLAST IN NEW YORK : 25 Injured In Manhattan Explosion at 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue.

An explosion hit Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood on Saturday evening. New York City police and fire department personnel are at the scene. 

At least 15 people were injured, local outlets reported.

Police confirmed they were called to an incident at the intersection of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue. An FDNY spokesman said first responders arrived at the scene at about 8:30 p.m.

The New York Post reported that a dumpster blew up, blowing out some of the windows of a nearby residence for the blind.

According to Reuters, at least three people were taken from the scene in ambulances. Javier Quintans, 33, a general manager at Francisco’s Centro Vasco near Seventh avenue and 23rd street, said he heard what sounded like an explosion at about 8:45 p.m.

“Just heard a loud boom in the restaurant and initially I thought something fell on our building,” he told The Huffington Post. “People were going outside and I followed and realized it was something up the block. We evacuated all the patrons and now we’re being told to stay indoors or leave the area.”

Andrea Ferguson, one of the managers at the nearby Terri, said the explosion could be heard from inside her restaurant but “we didn’t see anything.”

She added that the police stopped in Terri several times after the explosion and advised them to keep the door closed.

“They’re not making us evacuate, but earlier they were rushing people off the street,” she told HuffPost.