NEW YORK — A steam pipe blew up near Grand Central Terminal on Monday and sent thousands of people running out of buildings in a panic that it was a terror attack. "The building started shaking. There was steam and smoke billowing out of the ground," said Bryan Kohler, an accountant who works from a seventh-floor office on Third Avenue. "Everybody panicked. You know what it"s like now. We grabbed our stuff and ran."
The pipe blew at about 6 p.m., the height of rush hour, and sent a geyser of mud, steam and scalding water into the air on 41st Street, according to witnesses. White steam clouds rose as high as the nearby 77-story Chrysler Building. One person was killed and 26 others were wounded as the ruptured pipe sent thick plumes of smoke and ash into the air.

New York City still uses steam to heat and cool many buildings, including the Empire State Building. In 1989 a steam explosion ripped through a street, killing three people. The 2-foot pipe that burst Monday was installed in 1925.