New York - Massive Explosion Rips Through Queens Garage

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New York - The combination of fuel and fireworks proved almost deadly in Queens on Monday night. 

A young man was is in critical condition, discovered inside the wreckage of his garage at 2617 Murray St. in Flushing. The explosion was so strong neighbors said they felt it down the block. 

NYPD Bomb Squad and the FDNY were still on the scene late Monday night, but they wouldn't say for sure what caused the explosion. 

"Incredible explosion!" witness Pino Augello said. 

The blast shook a Whitestone neighborhood for blocks. 

"It was an intensity that I could never imagine anyone going through in their life," witness Catherine McGovern said. 

Investigators said 31-year-old Justin Cohen was inside his garage workshop when something exploded, knocking him to the ground and sparking a fireball that destroyed the garage. 

"The explosion that I felt and the ground that shook underneath me I never experienced it before," McGovern said. 

Cohen was seriously injured in the blast, burned over most of his body and was in critical condition -- also suffering from severe hearing loss and other injuries. 

Delores Constantinou is a close family friend. 

"No one has any answers and I don't know what happened. All I'm thinking right now is is Justin okay?" Constantinou said.

Sources told CBS 2 HD Cohen is involved in drag racing and had high-octane fuel in his workshop -- along with fireworks, car parts and other chemicals.

Investigators speculated some of the highly-flammable fumes may have self-combusted -- and triggered the explosion.

But right now they said they aren't ruling anything out. 

"The Hazmat guys say it looks like kind of a vapor explosion because it's even throughout the whole area. It's not concentrated in one area," FDNY Deputy Chief Steven Kubler said.

CBS 2

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