“If I didn’t scream, ‘I have a baby … and they didn’t act as fast, I wouldn’t be here right now.” That’s the story from a mother of three who found herself, and her children, climbing through fiery rubble after the Queens house where they lived on the third floor exploded on Thur sday. NYPD officers were already at the scene. They had responded to a call about a drunk man threatening his family with a knife and were trying to get a key in the front door lock when the house blew up. Officers were thrown back by the force. More than a half-dozen were taken to hospitals. They, along with several civilian victims, are expected to be OK. That seems miraculous, given what remains of the house. “I thought we got bombed,” Angelica Castellar, the mom of three, said. “My bed went up and down. I saw the flames coming up.” Bodycam video captures the explosion. Children are heard screaming. Police believe the man who was allegedly drunk, 50-year-old Anroop Parsam, intentionally doused the basement apartment where his family lived in gasoline and ignited it, sparking the explosion and a five-alarm fire. Parsam, who is seen on surveillance video walking across the street moments before chaos erupts, has been missing since the explosion. A body was found in the rubble, but officials say it is burned beyond recognition. The medical examiner’s office will determine the person’s identity. ‘We were very lucky’ Officials say the initial call came in at 2:42 a.m. Thursday about a drunk man with a knife threatening a woman. Security video shows the man at the basement apartment, where his wife, daughter, and two grandchildren live, officials said at a press conference. He pushes in an AC unit and enters with two canisters of unknown substances. Law enforcement officials say they contained gasoline, which he poured through the apartment and ignited, causing the explosion. Bodycam video shows officers helping victims out of the house after it explodes. A woman is heard saying she can’t breathe as an officer pleads with her to hand him “a baby.” People are climbing over smouldering rubble. “They were hurt. They had just been thrown to the ground by an explosion,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch posted on X, along with the bodycam footage. “And in that moment, with no clear sense of what else they might be walking into, they made the decision to keep moving forward.” According to police, the man had three expired orders of protection against him. All of those were filed by a resident in the home. Had the explosion happened earlier, police officials say it could have been devastating. “We got very lucky today … this could have turned out very differently today,” Assistant Chief Christopher McIntosh said Thursday. “Luck was on their side.” Nearly 300 firefighters responded to the scene. Neighbouring buildings were evacuated. The investigation is ongoing. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less