BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhuanet) -- An explosion demolished a four-storey building in Manhattan's Upper East Side in New York on Monday, in an incident which police said might have been triggered by a suicidal doctor going through an acrimonious divorce.

Rescuers working at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York on July 10, 2006 pull Nicholas Bartha, the owner of the building, from the rubble. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

    The building, at 34 East 62nd Street between Madison and the Central Park, came crashing on when the blast occurred at about 8:45 a.m., said Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. At least 15 people were injured in the accident, including 10 firefighters.

    The explosion jolted residents of nearby buildings and the ensuing rescue and firefighting operations disrupted routines and commutes on the fashionable Upper East Side. Some streets in the area were closed and buses were re-routed, but subway lines were not directly affected.

    As plumes of black smoke billowed out of the building, CNN chat show host Larry King, who had been staying in a nearby hotel, told the network that initially he had feared a terrorism attack.

    "I saw a lot of smoke, people scurrying everywhere," he told reporters. "There was one huge boom. ... It sounded like a bombing would sound, like the bombing of London in World War Two."

    The White House was quick to deny the possibility of terrorist attack. Instead, authorities are investigating the possibility that the explosion had been set off by a doctor who owned the building, lived and maintained offices there.

    Identified as Nicholas Bartha, the 66-year-old doctor was pulled from the rubble after he managed to contact rescuers by phone. He's in critical condition at New York hospital with burns to 70 percent of his body.

    Dr. Bartha was going through a bitter divorce, in which the financial settlement appeared to require him to sell the building, appraised at 5 million U.S. dollars in June 2002, to share the proceeds with his former wife.

    He recently wrote a 14-page angry e-mail, apparently addressing his ex-wife. "You always wanted me to sell the house. I always told you 'I will leave the house only if I am dead.' You ridiculed me. You should have taken it seriously," he wrote in the e-mail. Enditem

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York, July 10, 2006. A four-story building collapsed in Manhattan on Monday after an explosion, the Fire Department said. (Xinhua Photo)

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York, July 10, 2006.  (Xinhua Photo)

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York, July 10, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

Rescuers work at the site of a collapsed building on Manhattan's East Side in New York, July 10, 2006. (Xinhua Photo)

    (Agencies)