New York authorities are investigating whether a doctor who survived the explosion of a four-storey home on Manhattan’s Upper East Side on Monday might have caused the blast rather than sell the home as part of a divorce judgement in his ex-wife’s favour.
A police official with direct knowledge of the case said Dr Nicholas Bartha (66) had recently contemplated suicide in a rambling e-mail to his ex-wife: ”When you read this … your life will change forever. You deserve it. You will be transformed from gold digger to ash and rubbish digger. You always wanted me to sell the house. I always told you I will leave the house only if I am dead.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
The Monday-morning explosion hurled fireballs high into the sky and left the upscale block covered in bricks, broken glass and splintered wood. Authorities said at least 15 people were injured, including five civilians and 10 firefighters.
The doctor was rescued after yelling up to rescuers while buried in the wreckage, fire officials said. Bartha and one passer-by suffered severe injuries; the remaining injuries were minor.
The explosion and fire created a horrific scene on the Upper East Side. Heavy black smoke rose high above the 19th-century landmark on 62nd Street between Park and Madison avenues — just a few blocks from Central Park — that once served as a secret meeting place for a group of prominent New Yorkers who informally gathered intelligence for President Franklin D Roosevelt before and during World War II.
Debris was strewn everywhere. Four of the injured were pedestrians — some of them found on the street covered in blood.
Fire Chief Nicholas Scoppetta said authorities are looking into the possibility that the blast was the result of a suicide attempt, calling it ”a distinct possibility”.
Bartha had recently lost a $4-million judgement in the divorce case.
According to a 2005 Appellate Court opinion, the doctor had ”intentionally traumatised” his Jewish wife, who was born in Nazi-occupied Netherlands, by posting ”swastika-adorned articles and notes” around their home. The opinion also said Bartha had ”ignored her need for support and assistance while she was undergoing surgery and treatment for breast cancer”.
Cordula Bartha was granted the divorce ”on grounds of cruel and inhuman treatment”, according to the opinion, which also says her husband ”systematically cut off her access to marital funds and credit as a means of psychological abuse”.
In a petition filed this year by Cordula, she hinted at looming troubles and asked that deputies remove Nicholas from the residence. ”I have no doubt that [Nicholas] will ensconce himself in the marital residence and refuse to leave it after the auction is held. He has said many times that he intends to ‘die in my house’.”
The building was worth nearly $5-million based on a 2004 assessment, and was to be sold at auction to pay the judgement against Bartha.
An attorney who represented Bartha in his divorce said his former client considered the house ”his pride and joy”.
”Faced with possibly losing it, he couldn’t handle the pressure,” Ira Garr said on Fox News Channel’s On the Record with Greta van Susteren. Garr said he stopped representing Bartha after the doctor seemed to lose interest in pushing further with the appeal of his divorce judgement.
Attorneys for 64-year-old Cordula issued a statement: ”Ms Bartha cannot at this time withstand the additional burden of the media microscope on this personal tragedy. Ms Bartha and her family are deeply saddened and terribly upset by today’s occurrence.”
Power company Consolidated Edison said an employee had been in the basement of an adjacent building responding to a complaint about a smell of gas at the time of the blast. The employee was unhurt.
The utility had been at the Bartha building on June 8 after a routine check found a gas leak on a pipe in the basement. The gas was shut off, and Nicholas Bartha was asked to get the pipe fixed, spokesperson Joe Petta said. The gas was turned back on after the utility ensured the leak was fixed.
The building housed two doctors’ offices. Authorities said a nurse who was supposed to open one of the offices arrived late, narrowly missing the explosion.
Bartha was apparently the only person who lived in the building, Scoppetta said.
TV host Larry King, who had been in his hotel room nearby, described the explosion to CNN as sounding like a bomb and feeling like an earthquake. ”I’ve never heard a sound like that,” King said. — Sapa-AP