Asbestos found after blast

NEW YORK – Trace amounts of asbestos were found in the dust and muddy debris that rained down on people fleeing from a deadly steam pipe explosion, but city officials said Thursday that the exposure poses very little health risk to those caught in the fallout.

Citing environmental tests by the city and the utility Con Edison, Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought to allay the chief fear among those who were near the blast: exposure to cancer-causing asbestos used to insulate the 83-year-old pipe.

No asbestos was detected in 12 air samples tested so far, but 14 of 56 debris samples showed evidence of the toxin. In all but two samples, the amounts were tiny, Bloomberg said.

“Let me repeat, every single test of the air showed no asbestos,” the mayor said at a news conference Thursday night.

Health experts say any exposure to airborne asbestos is a risk, although most long-term health problems from the toxin are the result of extended, industrial-level exposure.

Meanwhile, there was major disruption for those living and working in midtown.

Subway service was restored by midday Thursday, and Third Avenue was expected to reopen to vehicular traffic by this morning. But streets by the blast site were a maze of police barricades that stymied commuters and tourists all day.

Con Edison officials are still investigating the cause of the rupture, but have said cold water from heavy rains may have created condensation on the pipe, and a sudden change in temperature and pressure.

One woman died from cardiac arrest, and 45 people were injured in the aftermath of the explosion, which blew a 25-foot-wide hole in a section of 41st Street near Lexington Avenue. A geyser of steam and asphalt shot 150 feet into the air.

Two people were in critical condition Thursday night at area hospitals, city officials said.