Department of Foreign Affairs allayed fears of the families of the Filipinos in New York City, USA following the explosion on Sunday.
No Filipinos are among the casualties during the explosion at the Chelsea area in New York City that injured 29 people, where one is in a serious condition.
This was confirmed by Assistant Secretary Charles Jose who also serves as the Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman.
On Monday, Philippine time, surveillance videos in the area show the same man near the site of the explosion and another location where a pressure-cooker device was found four blocks away.
The officials said that few blocks away from the blast site, investigators found one possible lead: a pressure cooker, with dark-colored wiring sticking out, connected by silver duct tape to what appears to be a cellphone.
Police continued to scour the area in order to get some clues about who was responsible for the explosion and a motive behind the incident.
While confirming the report about the safety of Filipinos in New York City, the DFA spokesperson said the consulate in New York continues to reach out to the Filipino community in the aftermath of the explosion, which had been tagged as “intentional” but has not been linked to a particular terrorist group.
The figures from DFA states that there are estimated 80,000 Filipinos in New York, mostly in the Queens area, Staten Island, Bronx and Brooklyn.
The explosion shook the Chelsea neighborhood which is packed with restaurants, subway stations, shops, businesses and art galleries, and sent panicked people scrambling for something to cover and stay away from harm.
In less than a day after the explosion happened, 26 people who had been admitted to hospitals were released.
While this happened, New York city officials appealed to the public to help the police investigators in finding those responsible. Authorities cordoned off the street where the explosion occurred, south of Midtown in western Manhattan.
On the same day, another blast also occurred near a Marine Corps charity run in New Jersey and a man stabbed nine people at a Minnesota mall.
Authorities are investigating all three incidents as possible terror acts, but as of today, none has yet claimed responsible.
“We do not have any specific evidence of a connection, but that will continue to be considered,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “We’re not taking any options off the table.”
“We know it was a very serious incident, but we have a lot more work to do to be able to say what kind of motivation was behind this,” de Blasio told reporters.