8 dead in New York gas blast as rescue operation goes on

The bodies of all eight people reported missing after a deadly gas explosion destroyed two buildings have been recovered, the city fire commissioner said Friday, but workers are treating the scene as a rescue operation in case there are unknown survivors in the rubble, AP reported.Salvatore Cassano said no one else is known to be unaccounted for but workers will continue to scour the debris from the flattened apartment buildings for victims. More than 60 people were injured by Wednesday morning's explosion, and more than 100 others were displaced. Cassano said about 70 percent of the debris had been cleared at the upper Manhattan blast site. But he said the pace was expected to quicken after firefighters removed a hazardous rear wall.He predicted detectives and fire marshals would gain access to the East Harlem buildings' basements by midday Saturday to begin the investigation into what caused the explosion.The rescue effort continued as federal investigators announced that gas was detected in underground tests of the site in the hours after the explosion, lending support to the hypothesis a gas leak may have been the cause.