Building owner charged in fatal NYC explosion

A building owner and contractors were indicted Thursday on a host of charges, including manslaughter and homicide, for their roles in an East Village explosion that killed two people and injured more than a dozen others.

The charges stem from a gas leak on March 27 that sparked an explosion in a five-story apartment building in Manhattan’s East Village. The blast leveled the building, destroyed nearby properties and started a seven-alarm fire.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance called the gas explosion “foreseeable, preventable and completely avoidable.” He warned that property owners and builders need to resist temptation to break the rules and “take dangerous, and in some instances, deadly shortcuts.”

An indictment returned in New York State Supreme Court charges that the building owner and manager hired contractors who filed false paperwork to get gas meters installed, then rented units even after they failed inspections. When the gas inspection failed, workers allegedly constructed an illegal gas-supply system, court papers said.

Maria Hrynenko, 56, the building owner who is charged with manslaughter, assault, criminally negligent homicide and reckless endangerment, allegedly hired Dilber Kukic, 40, in 2013 to renovate some of her properties in New York, including the apartment building, according to court documents. Kukic, who faces similar charges, then hired Athanasios Ioannidis, 59, to do plumbing work at the building.

Ioannidis allegedly paid Andrew-Trombettas, 57, to use his credentials to apply for permits at the building department, according to court papers.

Mark Bederow, the lawyer representing Kukic, called the explosion a “tragedy.” But he said, “Everyone should keep an open mind until the evidence has been tested.”