2nd body found after Borough Park explosion

Police say they pulled a second body from the debris at the site of Saturday's building explosion in Borough Park. The recovery raises the death toll to two. Thirteen people were injured in the blast.

News 12 Staff

Oct 6, 2015, 6:37 AM

Updated 3,285 days ago

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Police say they pulled a second body from the debris at the site of Saturday's building explosion in Borough Park.
The recovery raises the death toll to two. Thirteen people were injured in the blast.
Officials have not yet identified the second body, but they had previously told News 12 that Francesca Figueroa was missing since the blast. Sources say crews were trying to trace her cellphone, which they believed was inside her apartment on the second floor where the blast originated.
Officials say there was good reason to believe that she was in the apartment when the explosion occurred and that her car has been parked in the area nearby.
The fire commissioner says Figueroa had purchased a high-end stove and was trying to take it with her as she moved out of the apartment. Officials say they think that as the stove was disconnected, a gas leak occurred and led to the massive explosion.
Figueroa owned a hair salon in Park Slope. Friends and family have been leaving prayer candles outside the building since the blast.
The city's medical examiner is expected to identify the recovered body in the coming days.
The one identified woman killed in the blast was 64-year-old Ligia Puello, a native of the Dominican Republic and a resident of the building.
Her body was found in the stairwell near the second floor close to the apartment where the explosion started.
Authorities say she lived in the third-floor apartment with her daughter, who was away at the time.