New Delhi: Viral videos showing people emerging from manholes in Manhattan have once again sparked a buzz on social media, prompting the New York Police Department (NYPD) to investigate the incident.
Three people emerge from Manhattan manhole
On Friday, a video was posted on TikTok showing three people emerging one after another from manholes while wearing headlamps near 32nd Street and Seventh Avenue, close to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.
A police spokesperson said the department was aware of the video and had launched an investigation into the incident.
“There are no arrests, and the investigation is ongoing,” police told NBC News.
The video, which appears to have been recorded at around 4 a.m., has sparked concern on social media as this is not the first time something like this has happened in New York.
Videos of people coming out of manholes in different parts of New York City also surfaced on social media in May. In one such incident, a man dressed in a white shirt and shorts was filmed opening a manhole cover at around 2 a.m, allowing seven men to emerge from the sewer. Later that day, another video captured seven men climbing out of a manhole onto a busy street near Heyward Street and Bedford Avenue, with at least three of them seen carrying shovels.
‘Illegal and extremely dangerous’
An inspection of the sewer system in the area where the incident occurred found no damage to the infrastructure, a spokesperson for the city’s Environmental Protection Department said in a statement on Sunday. The department also said that entering the sewer system is “both illegal and extremely dangerous.”
“Sewers can contain numerous hazards, including noxious and potentially deadly gases, unstable surfaces, flooding risks, and confined spaces,” the statement said. “For these reasons, members of the public should never enter a pipe, drain, catch basin, manhole, or outfall.”
The person who posted the latest video told NBC News that the incident took place shortly after 4 a.m. An NYPD spokesperson confirmed that officers were aware of the footage.
Social media reaction
The videos have drawn a mix of concern and humour online. Some social media users questioned New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani about the incident, while others joked that people could have been entering the manholes to avoid traffic or retrieve lost belongings.
“Mamdani’s NY is a ticking time bomb,” one user posted on X.
“NYC traffic’s so bad even the sewers are rushing the morning commute,” another user posted on X.
(Edited by Maryam Hassan)