New York ‘Explosion’ Prompts Evacuation Of City’s Subway

New York emergency authorities were responding to reports of an explosion at New York’s Port Authority, one of the city’s busiest commuter hubs, during Monday morning’s rush hour.

Police confirmed one person is in custody but has not yet confirmed what type of device was used.

Four people including a male suspect suffered non life-threatening injuries.

“There was a stampede up the stairs to get out,” said Diego Fernandez, one of the commuters at Port Authority. “Everybody was scared and running and shouting.”

A police officer near the scene told Reuters: “There was an explosion under Port Authority somewhere in the subway. That’s all we’ve got for now.”

Authorities told HuffPost they were unsure whether the reported explosion was inside the Port Authority building or the subway system but some subway train lines have been evacuated.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Donald Trump had been briefed on the situation.

News of the incident jarred financial markets as trading was getting underway for the week. Standard & Poor’s 500 index emini futures pared gains, the dollar weakened against the yen and US Treasury securities prices gained on a modest flight-to-safety bid.

The incident occurred less than two months after an Uzbek immigrant killed eight people by speeding a rental truck down a New York City bike path, in an attack for which Islamic State claimed responsibility.

In September 2016, a man injured more than two dozen people when he set off a homemade bomb in New York’s Chelsea district.

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